SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today released annual applicant and appointee data for the administration’s judicial appointments.
From 2011 through 2017, Governor Brown appointed 451 judges – including 95 in 2017 – from a pool of more than 2,400 applicants. Over those seven years, nearly 40 percent of Governor Brown’s appointees identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African-American; Hispanic; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; or Other/Unknown. Last year, women appointees accounted for more than half of all judicial appointments.
Since taking office in 2011, Governor Brown’s judicial appointees have included a number of notable firsts:
– Yvette Durant, the first woman judge ever appointed to the Sierra County Superior Court.
– Nahal Iravani-Sani, the first Iranian-American judge ever appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court.
– Shama H. Mesiwala, the first South Asian American judge ever appointed to the Sacramento County Superior Court.
– Somnath Raj Chatterjee, the first South Asian American judge ever appointed to the Alameda County Superior Court.
– Benjamin T. Reyes, the first Filipino-American judge ever appointed to the Contra Costa County Superior Court.
– Godofredo (O.G.) Magno, the first Filipino-American judge ever appointed to the Riverside County Superior Court.
– Winston S. Keh, the first Filipino-American judge ever appointed to the San Bernardino County Superior Court.
– Richard T. Fields, the first African-American man appointed to the Fourth District Court of Appeal.
– Marco D. Nunez, the first openly gay judge ever appointed to the Imperial County Superior Court.
– Sonia Cortés, the first Latino judge ever appointed to the Yolo County Superior Court.
– Marsha G. Slough, the first openly gay justice in the history of the Fourth District Court of Appeal.
– Luis A. Lavin, the first openly gay justice to serve on the Second District Court of Appeal.
– Therese M. Stewart, the first openly lesbian justice to serve on the California Court of Appeal;
– Ferdinand P. Inumerable, the first Asian-American judge ever appointed to the Ventura County Superior Court.
– M. Bruce Smith, the first African-American justice to serve on the Fifth District Court of Appeal.
– Paul Lo, the first Hmong American judge ever appointed in the country;
– Sunshine Sykes, the first Native American judge ever appointed to the Riverside County Superior Court;
– Sunil Kulkarni, the first South Asian American judge ever appointed in Northern California;
– Rupa Goswami, the first South Asian American woman judge ever appointed in California.
– Halim Dhanidina, the first American-Muslim judge ever appointed in California;
– Jim Humes, the first openly gay justice ever appointed to the California Court of Appeal;
– Miguel Marquez, the first Latino justice ever appointed to the Sixth District Court of Appeal;
– Rosendo Peña, the first Latino justice ever appointed to the Fifth District Court of Appeal;
– Chris Doehle, the first female judge ever appointed to the Del Norte County Superior Court;
– Kimberly Colwell, the first openly lesbian judge ever appointed to the Alameda County Superior Court;
– Mark Andrew Talamantes, the first Latino judge ever appointed to the Marin County Superior Court;
– Kathleen O’Leary, the first female presiding justice ever appointed to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three; and
– Raquel Marquez, the first Latina judge ever appointed to the Riverside County Superior Court.
Under SB 56 and SB 182, the Governor is required to disclose aggregate statewide demographic data provided by all judicial applicants by March 1.
**NOTE: Judge and Justice demographic data is collected by the Judicial Council of California and State Bar membership data is collected by the California State Bar, based on voluntary survey results. A more detailed breakdown of the demographic data collected by the Judicial Council and the State Bar can be found here and here.
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