Gov. Gavin Newsom nominated California Supreme Justice Patricia Guerrero to be the next Chief Justice of California.
Newsom also appointed Alameda Superior Judge Kelli Evans to the state Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy expected to be created by Guerrero’s nomination to Chief Justice.
The sitting chief justice, Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, announced her retirement July 27.
“I am humbled by this nomination to lead our state’s Supreme Court and thank the Governor for entrusting me with this honor,” said Justice Guerrero, according to a California Courts press release. “If confirmed, I look forward to continuing the strides the Court has made under Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye to expand equal access to justice and create a fairer justice system for all Californians,” she said.
Guerrero joined the state Supreme Court as an Associate Justice March 28, taking the seat formerly held by Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar.
Since she joined the Supreme Court, Guerrero concurred in 12 Supreme Court rulings.
“Justice Guerrero has established herself as a widely respected jurist with a formidable intellect and command of the law and deep commitment to equal justice and public service,” said Newsom in the press release. “A first-generation Californian from the Imperial Valley, Justice Guerrero broke barriers as California’s first Latina Supreme Court Justice, enriching our state’s highest court with her insights and deep understanding of the real-world impacts of the Court’s decisions in the lives of everyday Californians.”
The Commission on Judicial Appointments, comprising Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Rob Bonta and Presiding Justice of the Courts of Appeal Manuel Ramirez, will review Guerrero’s nomination 10 a.m. Aug. 26.
The hearing will be livestreamed on the California Courts Newsroom.
If they approve her, voters must elect her in the Nov. 8 general election.
Individuals may provide testimony on Guerrero’s nomination to the Commission on Judicial Appointments by emailing coja@jud.ca.gov by Aug. 22.
Guerrero grew up in the small farming town Imperial, where her immigrant father worked in feedlots and her mother was a babysitter.
Guerrero graduated from University of California, Berkeley, magna cum laude in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in legal studies. She received her Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School in 1997.
She started in private practice, working on environmental cases in Latham & Watkins’ San Francisco office, according to the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation’s recommendation.
In 2002, Guerrero served a one-year term in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California as an Assistant United States Attorney prosecuting drug trafficking and immigration violations, before she returned to Latham in its San Diego Office, where she made partner in 2006.
As an attorney, she finished a brief while on the way to the hospital to give birth to her son, said Robert Howard, Guerrero’s former law partner, at her confirmation hearing to the Court of Appeal.
Then-Gov. Edmund “Jerry” Brown appointed her a San Diego Superior Judge in 2013, where she handled traffic, criminal and family law cases. She was unopposed in her re-election campaign.
In 2017, Brown appointed her to the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division One. She won her retention election 1.7 million votes to 700,000.
