A divided Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday that a judge rightly denied a mother’s bid to proceed anonymously in a lawsuit against the Ventura Unified School District based on her child’s expulsion for failure to submit proof of inoculations required for attendance at California schools despite asserted religious objections, saying the parent had failed to show the requisite level of harm to justify withholding of her name.

(Subscription required) California’s judicial vetting committee on Friday confirmed five courts of appeal candidates, approving what could be some of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s final appointments to the state’s mid-level appellate courts. The new justices endorsed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments will fill vacancies on three courts, including three empty seats in Fourth District divisions in Santa Ana and San Diego.

The majority ruled the court should not have accepted the case, which revolved around how to assess multiple IQ scores that fall above and below the cutoff allowing execution. The case was significant because many capital punishment defendants fall into this borderline territory in the 27 states that have the death penalty.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court has been awarded the 2026 Justice Chin Technology Innovation Award in recognition of CourtHelp, an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot that assists court users in navigating the website and services.