Jerry Brown
SACRAMENTO -- Jerry Brown has survived his first challenge after barely a month in office. A Sacramento County Superior Court judge Friday tossed a GOP lawsuit claiming that former Oakland mayor and California governor Jerry Brown was ineligible to serve as the state's attorney general. Contra Costa County Republican Central Committee Chairman Tom Del Beccaro and other party activists filed the lawsuit last November. The suit claimed Brown had not practiced law for a full five years before the election as required by California law. Judge Gail Ohanesian ruled that Brown had been eligible to practice law from 1997 until 2003 even though his membership of the State Bar was inactive. "The intent of this law was not to prevent someone in the circumstances of this candidate to be excluded from office," Ohanesian ruled. The attorney for the Republican filers, Michael Schroeder, said he would appeal Friday's decision.