Carlos R. Moreno

Who is Carlos R. Moreno?

Carlos Roberto Moreno is a Mexican-American jurist who has been confirmed to be United States Ambassador to Belize. Following his retirement from the Supreme Court of California in 2011, Moreno is currently of counsel with the California-based law firm Irell & Manella. Moreno was considered to be a leading candidate to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court.

When he was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California in 2001, Justice Carlos Moreno chose to relinquish his lifetime seat on the U.S. District Court where he had presided over a broad range of complex civil and criminal matters since his appointment in 1998 by President Bill Clinton.

As an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, Justice Moreno reviewed on appeal a wide range of civil and criminal cases, which have substantial state and federal constitutional implications. With his appointment to the Supreme Court of California, he became only the third judge of Hispanic heritage to serve in the Court's nearly 150-year history, and the first in more than a decade.