Why do we vote on judges, and how are we supposed to decide? It’s a recurring question we’re hearing in our conversations with voters this fall.
Judges aren’t exactly household names, although one on your ballot shares a name with a certain multiplatinum-selling musician. They generally don’t campaign, either.
The simple answer to the question, though, is that our state constitution requires it. California justices serve 12-year terms rather than the lifetime appointments that federal judges receive.
Unlike conventional elections, state Supreme Court and appeals court judges don’t run against opponents. Instead, voters are given a simple yes-or-no question on retaining a judge. If a majority votes a judge out, the governor appoints their replacement.
That’s why your ballot asks whether two California Supreme Court justices, Kelli Evans and Joshua Groban, should keep their jobs. You’ll also see a number of appeals court justices depending on where you live.
- Thomas Wilhite, a retired California Court of Appeals justice: “It does give the court of appeal a measure of independence because you don’t stand for election constantly. But it gives the voters a chance to have a say and confirm the continued service of the justice.”
Californians only used their power to unseat sitting justices once. That was in 1986 when voters swept three state supreme court justices off the bench over their rulings against death sentences.
Governors nominate appeals court and Supreme Court justices, but that isn’t the end of the process. They’re vetted by the state bar and then reviewed by the chief justice, the attorney general and the senior presiding justice at the California Court of Appeal. The nominees also appear before a public hearing.
You can search for any disciplinary actions against justices at the Commission on Judicial Performance.
It’s common for voters to skip over the judicial elections. In 2022, for example, about 8.3 million Californians voted in elections for state supreme court justices. That’s about 2.5 million fewer than the number of people who voted in our U.S. Senate race.
Retired California Supreme Court Justice Martin Jenkins was up for retention that year. He wants Californians to understand the care and commitment judges put into their work, saying he worked six or seven days a week throughout his career. Voters should research the justices just as they would any other politician or ballot measure, Jenkins said.
Join CalMatters, AAJA Sac, ABC 10 and The Sacramento Observer for a free VotingMatters event Wednesday in Sacramento. The event enables attendees to learn and discuss the upcoming election and focuses on the ballot propositions and insurance commissioner race. Register here to attend in person.
Other Stories You Should Know
Abuse and retaliation inside CA women’s prison
We’re publishing a special report today by our partners KQED on what led up to the mass pepper-spraying of incarcerated people in California’s largest women’s prison.
That incident took place at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, the same site where former guard Gregory Rodriguez last year was convicted on dozens of counts of raping and sexually assaulting incarcerated women.
As the rate of sexual misconduct complaints against staff increased, a pattern of retaliation against those who reported assault also emerged, as did a failure to investigate those assaults, report KQED’s Madi Bolaños and Sukey Lewis.
On Aug. 2, 2024 officers confined 159 women for more than four hours in a dining hall without food, water or medication, and then unleashed streams of pepper spray and chemical blast grenades on them.
Angela Kent said in her 27 years of law enforcement, she had never seen anything like the use of force that day. She was an administrator for the state’s two women’s prisons when it occurred.
- Kent: “I absolutely felt that every officer, supervisor and manager involved should be fired.”
GOP’s push to unseat Merced congressmember
Rep. Adam Gray won the closest U.S. House race in 2024 by a mere 187 votes. This year, the Merced Democrat faces more favorable odds for reelection due to the state’s recent voter-approved redistricting that favors Democrats.
But former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln, a Republican, aims to unseat Gray to represent California’s 13th District — which stretches from Stockton to Merced — and he’s getting a lot of help and money from national Republicans, writes CalMatters’ Maya C. Miller.
A super PAC aligned with House Republican leadership has spent more than $4.34 million on the race this year so far, and Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana went to Chowchilla to rally support for Lincoln. Part of the reason for the GOP’s strong support likely stems from having few other prospects for winnable races elsewhere in California after last year’s gerrymander.
House Democrats, meanwhile, have spent less than $400,000 this year on the race, according to campaign finance records.
And lastly: What do you want public health officials to know?
Have an opinion on what health issues should be prioritized in California? CalMatters is partnering with Your Local Epidemiologist to make the real concerns and questions from Californians heard by public health officials and journalists.
Every Monday, we’ll ask about health topics affecting Californians, and it’ll only take 2 minutes to answer.
This week, we’re asking about long COVID and health policy, including Medi-Cal changes. Take the survey.
California Voices
CARE Court may not be the right fit for everyone, but it nonetheless offers participants an opportunity to become engaged in their own recovery and to make progress toward independence, writes Charles F. Adams, an associate justice of the California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District.
Other things worth your time:
Why are CA gas prices so much higher than in Hawaii? // San Francisco Chronicle (gift link)
Inside the long, bitter fight over one man’s quest to build the biggest AI datacenter in CA // The Guardian (free)
AI-generated images of fake ICE raids go viral, terrifying immigrant communities // The San Francisco Standard (paywall)
He went to document an anti-ICE protest in LA. He left without an eye // Capital & Main (free)
A new gas line or cash to electrify? CA lets households choose // Grist (free)
How CA’s flagship clean transit initiative was hit by accusations of fraud and waste // Los Angeles Times (paywall)
Juvenile justice oversight is diminishing across CA, to advocates’ alarm // The San Diego Union Tribune (gift link)
