State Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in Colton Hall Oct. 8.

In a special session on Wednesday, Oct. 8, the California Supreme Court will hear the oral arguments in four cases at Colton Hall in Monterey.

The City of Monterey announced the news today, Sept. 26, as part of a slate of events planned at Colton Hall in celebration of the state’s 175 years—Colton Hall is the state’s first public building, and home to the California Constitutional Convention in 1848. 

According to the City of Monterey, the last time the state Supreme Court held sessions in Colton Hall was 1959. 

For those interested to see how the California Constitution gets interpreted, the cases present some interesting questions, per the court’s summary: “May two prior convictions arising out of a single act that harms multiple victims constitute two strikes under the Three Strikes law?” “Is the issuance of pension obligation bonds to finance unfunded pension liability subject to the voter-approval requirement of…the California Constitution?” 

Oral arguments attempting to answer those questions begin at 9am, followed by an automatic death penalty appeal for Alex Demolle.   

Arguments for a fourth case will be heard in the afternoon at 1:30pm in consideration of a two-part question: “Must a court consider a defendant’s ability to pay before imposing or executing fines, fees, and assessments? If so, which party bears the burden of proof regarding the defendant’s inability to pay?”

Students groups will be given priority for seating at Colton Hall for the event, which will be streamed live online as well as at the Monterey Public Library, Monterey City Council Chambers and Middlebury Institute’s Irvine Auditorium at 499 Pierce St. 

For those who might want to get into the constitutional spirit of it all in advance of the state Supreme Court’s visit, there will be live reenactments of the 1849 convention on Sunday, Oct. 5 at noon and 2:30pm.