Newsom names a Black, gay former judge and prosecutor to California Supreme Court
SAN FRANCISCO – Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday appointed Martin Jenkins, a Black former prosecutor and judge, to the California Supreme Court.
Jenkins, a 66-year-old Democrat, had been serving as Newsom’s judicial appointments secretary. He would become the first openly gay man on the California Supreme Court, and only the third Black man ever to serve on the state’s highest court.
He has been considered a candidate for the state’s top court for years, but former Gov. Jerry Brown passed him over for younger people from elite law schools. Unlike Jenkins, Brown’s choices also had no prior judicial experience.
“Justice Jenkins is widely respected among lawyers and jurists, active in his Oakland community and his faith, and is a decent man to his core,” Newsom said in a statement. “As a critical member of my senior leadership team, I’ve seen firsthand that Justice Jenkins possesses brilliance and humility in equal measure. The people of California could not ask for a better jurist or kinder person to take on this important responsibility.”
Jenkins was leading the search to fill a vacancy on the court left by the Aug. 31 retirement of Justice Ming W. Chin, a Republican appointee who was the court’s most conservative member.
Jenkins is viewed as generally less liberal than the four justices Brown appointed to the court. From Alameda County prosecutor, to federal judge to the San Franciscobased Court of Appeals, Jenkins did not publicly discuss his sexual orientation.
After his confirmation, the court will have two Black justices, two Asian Americans, one Latino, one white woman and one white man.
“I am truly humbled and honored to be asked by the governor to continue serving the people of California on the Supreme Court,” Jenkins said in a statement. “If confirmed, I will serve with the highest ethical standards that have guided me throughout my career, informed by the law and what I understand to be fair and just.”
A native of San Francisco, Jenkins grew up helping his father clean office buildings and churches to earn extra money for his family while his father also had a full-time job with the city of San Francisco working as a clerk and janitor at Coit Tower.
He went on to earn a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law, after which he worked as a prosecutor for the Alameda County district attorney’s office.
The nomination must be submitted to the State Bar’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation and confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and senior Presiding Justice of the state Court of Appeal J. Anthony Kline.