NEW JUSTICE SWORN IN TO CALIF. HIGH COURT
Jenkins is first openly gay jurist on Supreme Court
SACRAMENTO
California’s Supreme Court has its first openly gay justice.
Mar tin Jenkins was sworn in on Friday by Gov. Gavin New so mina virtual rather than in-person ceremony because of coronavirus safety restrictions.
“In swearing in Justice Jenkins today, our state once again makes history, and we elevate an extraordinary Californian to the bench,” Newsom said in a statement. “The people of our state could not ask for a fin er jurist or better person to serve them in this capacity.
Newsom nominated Jenkins to replace Justice
Ming Chin, who retired on Aug. 31. The Commission on Judicial Appointments unanimously conf irmed Jenkins in November, praising him for his “brilliant intellect, f irst-class temperament, and bound
less humanity.”
During a news conference in October, Jenkins said his identity as a gay man has been “perhaps the greatest challenge of my life.”
Jenkins also is the third
Black justice to ser ve on the cour t. He joins a diverse bench that includes another Black justice, Leondra Kruger; Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, who is L atino; two Asian Americans, Chief Justice Tani Gorre CantilSakauye and Justice Goodwin Liu; and White justices Joshua Groban and Carol Corrigan..
Jenkins grew up in San Francisco. His father was a clerk and janitor at the city’s iconic Coit Tower. He was a prosecutor in Alameda County and a civil rights attorney for the U.S. Depar tment of Justice in the Reagan administration.
He was appointed as a federal judge in 1998 joined the state Cour ts of Appeal in 2008. He retired last year and joined Newsom’s administration as the judicial appointment secretar y, helping Newsom vet potential appointments for judgeships.