Justice Cuellar at King Hall

UC Davis had a distinguished visitor today. California Supreme Court Justice Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuellar visited the campus and talked to a group including high school students in the Puente program, undergraduate students, law students, faculty, and staff. He shared his experiences as a student at Harvard, Yale and Stanford, as an adviser to President Barack Obama, and as professor at Stanford Law School. He graciously took questions from all and offered an optimistic and inspirational message to the students.

After the talk, I had the opportunity to catch up with Justice Cuellar, whom I have known for many years. In fact, I met Tino when he interviewed for a faculty position at UC Davis. We lost him to Stanford but I made a longtime friend.

Raquel Aldana and Justice Cuellar in conversation

Later in the afternoon, Justice Cuellar appeared in a “conversation” with Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic and Professor of Law Raquel Aldana as part of the Provost’s series on the future of the public university. Among other things, Justice Cuellar shared his experiences as a child growing up on the U.S.-Mexico border and attending Calexico in the Imperial Valley.