California Courts Newsroom

August 31, 2017

Judicial Council Public Affairs

415-865-7740

 

 

Today, Justice Kathryn Werdegar—the current court's longest-serving justice—retires.

 

Werdegar's retirement, after 23 years on the California Supreme Court bench, gives Gov. Jerry Brown the opportunity to appoint a fourth justice to the seven-member court. Brown appointed Justice Goodwin Liu in 2011, and Justices Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar and Leondra Kruger in 2014.

 

 

Here's a primer on how a state Supreme Court appointment is made:

 

 

 

  

For more information about how justices are selected, go to http://www.courts.ca.gov/3162.htm.