California installs first lesbian Supreme Court justice
SACRAMENTO (AP) — Two days after voters approved Patricia Guerrero to become California’s first Latina Supreme Court chief justice, in January, a state panel, on Thursday, approved Kelli Evans to be the high court’s first openly lesbian justice.
The moves mark the last dominos to fall after Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye announced, in July, that she will step down, in January.
That gave Gov. Gavin Newsom his third opportunity to appoint a justice to the seven-member high court.
Newsom, a Democrat who was handily reelected, Tuesday, first elevated Guerrero to lead the nation’s largest judicial system, just months after he had appointed her to the state Supreme Court.
The same day he announced he would appoint Evans to take her place.
Evans was approved, Thursday, by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, consisting of Cantil-Sakauye, state Attorney General Rob Bonta and Judge Manuel Ramirez, the senior presiding justice of the state Court of Appeal.
Evans, who was accompanied by many members of her family and friends, dedicated the day to her grandmother who raised her and who she credited for becoming a lawyer, a judge and now a justice.
“I believe that my grandmother would have understood, as I do, that the law it’s so much more than an esoteric ivory tower exercise. At its core, what is the law about? It’s about real people and real communities,” she said.
The Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation rated Evans “well qualified,” a rare step lower than its top rating of “exceptionally well qualified.” The State Bar’s commission did not explain its lower ranking but still concluded that Evans “will make an outstanding Associate Justice.”
Evans has been an Alameda County Superior Court judge, just since last year. She previously was Newsom’s chief deputy legal affairs secretary, where his office said she helped him shape a moratorium on capital punishment that Newsom issued, in 2019.