O’Melveny Defends California Gov. Gavin Newsom in Death Penalty Moratorium

O'Melveny defended Gov. Gavin Newsom’s right to issue a moratorium on the imposition of the death penalty throughout the state of California. After a lawsuit was filed in Sacramento Superior Court challenging the moratorium, claiming it was an unconstitutional exercise of the Governor’s reprieve power, the Governor’s office asked O’Melveny to defend Newsom’s principled actions and policies . By focusing on the threshold issue of standing, O’Melveny convinced the court to issue a final judgment in favor of both the Governor and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Newsom's moratorium, imposed by an executive order issued at the beginning of his term in January 2019, was structured as a blanket reprieve for all death row inmates. The Executive Order emphasized the expenditure of billions of taxpayer dollars and the disproportionate application of the death penalty to minorities, the poor, and the mentally ill. It was the latter premise, addressing the disparity, that motivated O’Melveny to take the case.