David A. Carrillo received his doctorate from Berkeley Law before joining the faculty as a lecturer in residence and the founding executive director of the California Constitution Center in 2012. The center is devoted to developing scholarship concerning the California constitution and the California Supreme Court. Dr. Carrillo coauthored a casebook on California constitutional law, teaches courses on the California constitution and the California Supreme Court, publishes articles on those subjects, and is editor-in-chief of SCOCAblog.com and the California Legal History journal.
Before starting his academic career Dr. Carrillo was in active practice for 16 years, as a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice, as a Deputy City Attorney in San Francisco, as a Deputy District Attorney in Contra Costa County, and as a commercial litigation associate in private practice. A member of the California bar since 1995, Dr. Carrillo is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Northern, Southern, Central, and Eastern District Courts of California.
Education
B.A., UC Berkeley (1991)
J.D., Berkeley Law (1995)
LL.M., Berkeley Law (2007)
J.S.D., Berkeley Law (2011)
David A Carrillo is not teaching any Law courses in Fall 2026.
Courses During Other Semesters
| Semester | Course Num | Course Title |  Teaching Evaluations | Spring 2027 | 223.8 sec. 1 | California Constitutional Law | Fall 2025 | 223.8 sec. 001 | California Constitutional Law | View Teaching Evaluation |
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OpEd: California’s latest stupid reason for attacking recall elections
Voters should see through the “reform” sham to the truth: Recalls have little to do with hyperpartisanship, and under cover of reforming the recall, the Legislature is stripping power from voters, write David A. Carrillo and Joshua Spivak of the California Constitution Center at Berkeley Law.
Newsom Nominates a Latina to be California Supreme Court Chief Justice, a First
David A. Carrillo, executive director of the California Constitution Center, says diversifying the court first became a priority under former Gov. Jerry Brown in the 1970s. “Doing so is crucial to both the perception and the reality that those who administer justice reflect the state’s diversity,” Carrillo says. “The judge in my case doesn’t have to look like me, but it shouldn’t be true that there are no judges who look like me.”
Gov. Newsom Nominates Justice Patricia Guerrero as California’s Next Chief Justice
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo discuss the nomination. “This is two-sevenths of the California Supreme Court, and these are people who are going to be there for a long time,” Chemerinsky says. “They are historic and important appointments.” Guerrero’s appointment also makes sense politically, Carrillo says, as appointing the first Latina chief justice “speaks directly to the nearly 40% of the California population with Hispanic ancestry.”
Op-Ed: Citizen Enforcement Laws Are a Pandora’s Box
David A. Carrillo and Brandon V. Stracener of the California Constitution Center write that if proposed state laws copying the citizen enforcement mechanism of Texas’ S.B. 8 survive, one might eventually turn up on the ballot as an initiative, posing “a grave threat to a minority group, who will fail to defeat the proposition because (as a minority) they lack the votes.”
Who Will Be the Next California Chief Justice?
California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo is among those quoted to analyze Gov. Gavin Newsom’s next move. Elevating a sitting justice gives the governor “the appearance of making two appointments: one to elevate a new Chief Justice, and one to fill the vacated seat,” Carrillo says.
Chief Justice of California Supreme Court Won’t Seek Second Term
“In recent years the California Supreme Court has coalesced into a group of moderate justices who decide nearly 90% of their cases unanimously, and Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye’s retirement may be an inflection point for that dynamic,” California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo says. “So one factor in choosing a new Chief Justice is how likely that person is to continue the court’s current consensus culture.”
Rose Bird Was Not Recalled
California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo and a co-author outline the dearth of even attempted recall of state judges, pointing out that then-Supreme Court Justice Rose Bird, ’65 didn’t face a recall, but was instead not retained by voters in the 1986 general election. “A once-cumbersome and ineffective judicial discipline resulted in a substantial constitutional reform, which produced a far-more-effective discipline system centralized in the Commission on Judicial Performance,” they write. “Although the voters have always had the option since 1911 to recall any bench officer, they have done so only rarely, and never at the appellate level. ”
‘A Hard Reset for Gun Control’
California’s strict gun laws could be affected by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling striking down a New York law. The new test outlined in the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen case “potentially has long-term implications for California’s other gun laws,” California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo says.
Legal Scholars Worry Measure to Enshrine Abortion Rights in California Constitution Isn’t Clear Enough
California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo discusses SCA10, which Democratic state leaders are trying to get on to the November ballot to codify abortion rights in the state. “If courts are interpreting away abortion rights at the federal level, there is the same risk a California court could interpret away California abortion rights, because SCA10 doesn’t specify what they are,” Carrillo said.
Op-Ed: The Secret to SCOCA’s Consensus
California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo and a co-author analyze why the Supreme Court of California has such a high rate of unanimous decisions, concluding that the court’s culture of consensus-building is largely responsible.
Essay: California’s Constitutional Right to Abortion Before and After Dobbs
California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo and two co-authors track the evolution of California’s abortion law in light of the impending decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Op-ed: Abortion May Cause a Federalism Crisis
David A. Carrillo, Executive Director of the California Constitution Center, and senior research fellow Allison G. Macbeth, explain how the reasoning in the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion in ‘Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization’ can also be applied to void other federal liberty protections such as contraception and interracial and same-sex marriage
California Leaders Vow to Protect Abortion in Constitution
David A. Carrillo, Executive Director of the California Constitution Center, says states like California “can use their constitutions to increase protections for reproductive liberty”
The case for Leondra Kruger: Why Biden should put the Californian on the U.S. Supreme Court
A Sacramento Bee editorial suggesting President Biden select Judge Leondra Kruger for the Supreme Court cites a recent study of her record from the California Constitution Center
On the California Supreme Court, Leondra Kruger is known for her ‘persuasive powers’ among the justices
David A. Carrillo, Executive Director of the California Constitution Center, describes Justice Leondra Kruger as a median justice based on the fact she has taken an even distribution of liberal and conservative positions
Op-Ed: This consensus-building Californian deserves a spot on Biden’s Supreme Court short list
David A. Carrillo, Executive Director of the California Constitution Center, says the California Supreme Court’s ability to reach consensus is its “superpower”
Justice Kruger Has the Right Stuff
California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo and Senior Research Fellow Brandon V. Stracener explore the judicial record of California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger based on an analysis by the California Constitution Center of every opinion and vote by Kruger in her time on California’s high court
Op-Ed: Your town is not an independent republic
California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo and Senior Research Fellow Stephen M. Duvernay explain that California cities have no power to become breakaway republics, and Oroville’s stunt to become a “constitutional republic city” because of unhappiness with the ongoing state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic is not a thing
Op-Ed: Not so fast on California paralawyers
California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo and Senior Research Fellow Brandon V. Stracener examine the idea of creating a new licensed legal paraprofessional for limited practice and say rushing to implement a paralawyer program without public confidence that adequate oversight is ready could further degrade already-low confidence in legal discipline
The ‘Reform’ Proposal That Could Extinguish the Recall
California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo and Senior Research Fellow Stephen M. Duvernay examine proposed reforms to the state’s process for recalling statewide officers