Attorney Richard D. Martland sent the letter on behalf of the former governors to the state's 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, asking for permission to file the amicus curiae brief. Schwarzenegger filed an appeal last week to block a Sacramento Superior Court ruling that the governor's transfer plan was "unlawful" and that there was an improper basis to his declaration of a prison overcrowding emergency that set the stage for the transfers.

Martland's letter said the ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail D. Ohanesian "would deny Gov. Schwarzenegger the ability to avoid potential inmate unrest."
 
Pressing the suit against the state are the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and the Service Employees International Union Local 1000. The two unions, which represent about 45,000 state prison workers between them, said the transfers would undermine civil service protections for public employees.

April 10, 2007
by Andy Furillo, The Sacramento Bee