Judicial diversity rises in California

Judges in California, once nearly all white and male, are becoming more diverse, due in part to Gov. Jerry Brown’s appointments, the state Judicial Council reported Tuesday.

The council said diversity among the state’s more than 2,000 judges increased in 2017 for the 12th straight year. About 35 percent of all Superior Court judges were women, compared with 27 percent in 2006, the council said. Three of the six state Supreme Court justices are female, with the seventh seat vacant.

Racially, black judges increased from 4.4 percent in 2006 to 7.3 percent in 2017, Latino judges from 6.3 percent to 10.3 percent, and judges of Asian descent from 4.4 percent to 7.2 percent. White judges declined from 70.1 percent in 2006 to 67.5 percent in 2017, the council said.

Of the 451 judges Brown appointed from 2011 through 2017, his office said, more than 40 percent were women and 38.8 percent identified as nonwhite. Brown, who also served as governor from 1975 to 1983, has appointed the state Supreme Court’s first female, black and Latino justices and the nation’s first openly gay and lesbian judges.

The Judicial Council said it also asked judges about their sexual orientation and gender identity. More than 70 percent replied, the council said, with 1.3 percent identifying themselves as lesbian, 1.7 percent as gay, 0.1 percent each as bisexual and transgender, and the rest as heterosexual.

In another part of the survey, 3 percent of the judges responding said they had a disability.