This is a list of Justices of the Supreme Court of California. The Supreme Court of California is the highest judicial body in the state and sits at the apex of the courts of California. Its membership consists of the Chief Justice of California and six Associate Justices who are nominated by the Governor of California and appointed after confirmation by the California Commission on Judicial Appointments (which consists of the Chief Justice, the Attorney General of California, and the state's senior presiding justice of the California Courts of Appeal; the senior Associate Justice fills the Chief Justice's spot on the commission when a new Chief Justice is nominated). Justices of the Supreme Court serve 12-year terms and receive a salary which is currently set at $228,856 per year for the Chief Justice and at $218,237 per year for each Associate Justice.
Under the 1849 Constitution of California, the Supreme Court had a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices, with 6-year terms of office. An 1862 constitutional amendment expanded the Court to a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, with 10-year terms. Since the adoption of the 1879 Constitution, the Court has had a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices, with 12-year terms.
The 1849 Constitution specified that the first Supreme Court justices would be appointed by the Legislature and that the justices would be subject to partisan direct elections from that point forward. The Governor could appoint justices in the event of a vacancy on the Court in between the elections. In 1910, elections for the Supreme Court became nonpartisan. In 1934, the state implemented the present system of gubernatorial appointment with retention elections, replacing the direct election of justices.
Name | Assumed Office | Vacated Office | Appointed by |
---|---|---|---|
S. Clinton Hastings* | December 22, 1849 | January 1, 1852 | Legislature |
Nathaniel Bennett | December 26, 1849 | October 3, 1851 | Legislature |
Henry A. Lyons* | December 26, 1849 | March 31, 1852 | Legislature |
Hugh Murray* | October 11, 1851 | September 18, 1857 | Governor McDougall |
Solomon Heydenfeldt* | January 20, 1852 | January 6, 1857 | Direct election |
Alexander O. Anderson | April 6, 1852 | November 2, 1852 | Governor Bigler |
Alexander Wells | January 3, 1853 | October 31, 1854 | Direct election |
Charles Henry Bryan | November 24, 1854 | November 15, 1855 | Governor Bigler |
David S. Terry* | November 15, 1855 | September 12, 1859 | Direct election |
Peter H. Burnett | January 13, 1857 | October 12, 1857 | Governor J. N. Johnson |
Stephen Johnson Field* | October 13, 1857 | May 20, 1863 | Governor J. N. Johnson |
Joseph G. Baldwin | October 2, 1858 | January 2, 1864 | Direct election |
Warner Cope | September 20, 1859 | January 2, 1864 | Governor Weller |
Edward Norton | December 18, 1861 | January 2, 1864 | Direct election |
Edwin B. Crocker* | May 21, 1863 | January 2, 1864 | Governor Stanford |
John Currey | January 2, 1864 | January 6, 1868 | Direct election |
Augustus Rhodes | January 2, 1864 | January 5, 1880 | Direct election |
Silas W. Sanderson* | January 2, 1864 | January 4, 1870 | Direct election |
Lorenzo Sawyer | January 2, 1864 | January 10, 1870 | Direct election |
Oscar L. Shafter | January 2, 1864 | December 11, 1867 | Direct election |
Joseph B. Crockett | December 1867 | January 5, 1880 | Governor Haight |
Royal T. Sprague | January 6, 1868 | February 24, 1872 | Direct election |
William T. Wallace | January 10, 1870 | January 5, 1880 | Direct election |
Jackson Temple* | January 10, 1870 | January 1, 1872 | Governor Haight |
Addison Niles* | January 1, 1872 | January 5, 1880 | Direct election |
Isaac S. Belcher | March 4, 1872 | January 5, 1880 | Governor Booth |
Elisha W. McKinstry | December 29, 1873 | October 1, 1888 | Direct election |
Robert F. Morrison* | January 5, 1880 | March 2, 1887 | Direct election |
Samuel B. McKee | January 5, 1880 | January 3, 1887 | Direct election |
Milton H. Myrick | January 5, 1880 | January 3, 1887 | Direct election |
Erskine M. Ross | January 5, 1880 | October 1, 1886 | Direct election |
John R. Sharpstein | January 5, 1880 | December 28, 1892 | Direct election |
James D. Thornton | January 5, 1880 | January 5, 1891 | Direct election |
Jackson Temple | December 13, 1886 | June 25, 1889 | Direct election |
Van R. Patterson | December 22, 1886 | May 3, 1894 | Direct election |
Thomas B. McFarland | December 28, 1886 | May 3, 1894 | Direct election |
Niles Searls* | April 20, 1887 | November 6, 1888 | Governor Bartlett |
John D. Works | October 2, 1888 | January 5, 1891 | Governor Waterman |
William H. Beatty* | November 6, 1888 | August 4, 1914 | Direct election |
Charles N. Fox | June 25, 1889 | January 7, 1895 | Governor Waterman |
John J. De Haven | December 18, 1890 | January 7, 1895 | Direct election |
C. H. Garoute | December 19, 1890 | January 5, 1903 | Direct election |
Ralph C. Harrison | December 20, 1890 | January 5, 1903 | Direct election |
William F. Fitzgerald | February 2, 1893 | January 7, 1895 | Governor Markham |
William C. Van Fleet | May 7, 1894 | January 3, 1899 | Governor Markham |
Frederick W. Henshaw | December 29, 1894 | January 1919 | Direct election |
Jackson Temple | January 7, 1895 | December 25, 1902 | Direct election |
Walter Van Dyke | December 22, 1898 | December 25, 1905 | Direct election |
Frank M. Angellotti* | December 11, 1902 | November 1921 | Direct election |
Lucien Shaw* | December 11, 1902 | January 1923 | Direct election |
William G. Lorigan | January 7, 1903 | January 1919 | Governor Gage |
M. C. Sloss | December 19, 1906 | March 1, 1919 | Governor Pardee |
Henry A. Melvin | September 28, 1908 | December 1920 | Direct election |
Matt I. Sullivan* | August 22, 1914 | January 4, 1915 | Governor H. Johnson |
William P. Lawlor | December 22, 1914 | July 25, 1926 | |
Curtis D. Wilbur* | January 1, 1918 | March 19, 1924 | Governor Stephens |
Thomas J. Lennon | December 20, 1918 | August 14, 1926 | |
Warren Olney, Jr. | March 1, 1919 | July 1921 | |
William A. Sloane | December 15, 1920 | January 1923 | Governor Stephens |
Charles A. Shurtleff | July 2, 1921 | December 1922 | |
William H. Waste* | November 25, 1921 | June 6, 1940 | Governor Stephens |
Terry W. Ward | December 19, 1922 | January 8, 1923 | |
Frank H. Kerrigan | January 8, 1923 | February 11, 1924 | |
Emmett Seawell | January 8, 1923 | July 7, 1939 | |
Louis Wescott Myers* | January 15, 1923 | January 1, 1926 | Governor Richardson |
John E. Richards | February 11, 1924 | December 1932 | |
John W. Shenk | April 14, 1924 | August 3, 1959 | |
Jesse W. Curtis, Sr. | January 1, 1926 | January 1, 1945 | |
Frank G. Finlayson | October 4, 1926 | December 1926 | |
Jeremiah F. Sullivan | November 22, 1926 | December 1926 | |
John W. Preston | December 27, 1926 | September 1935 | |
William Langdon | January 4, 1927 | August 1939 | |
Ira F. Thompson | December 31, 1932 | January 1, 1947 | |
Nathaniel P. Conrey | October 1, 1935 | November 1936 | Governor Merriam |
Douglas L. Edmonds | November 23, 1936 | December 31, 1955 | Governor Merriam |
Frederick W. Houser | October 1, 1937 | October 12, 1942 | Governor Merriam |
Jesse W. Carter | September 12, 1939 | March 15, 1950 | Governor Olson |
Phil S. Gibson* | October 2, 1939 | August 30, 1964 | Governor Olson |
Roger J. Traynor* | August 13, 1940 | January 31, 1970 | Governor Olson |
B. Rey Schauer | December 18, 1942 | September 15, 1965 | Governor Olson |
Homer R. Spence | January 2, 1945 | June 1, 1964 | Governor Warren |
Marshall F. McComb | January 3, 1956 | May 3, 1977 | Governor Knight |
Raymond E. Peters | March 25, 1959 | January 2, 1973 | Governor P. Brown |
Thomas P. White | August 25, 1959 | October 31, 1962 | Governor P. Brown |
Maurice T. Dooling, Jr. | June 30, 1960 | June 30, 1962 | Governor P. Brown |
Mathew Tobriner | July 2, 1962 | January 20, 1981 | Governor P. Brown |
Paul Peek | December 2, 1962 | December 16, 1966 | Governor P. Brown |
Stanley Mosk | September 1, 1964 | June 19, 2001 | Governor P. Brown |
Louis H. Burke | November 20, 1964 | November 30, 1974 | Governor P. Brown |
Raymond L. Sullivan | December 20, 1966 | January 19, 1977 | Governor P. Brown |
Donald R. Wright* | April 17, 1970 | February 1, 1977 | Governor Reagan |
William P. Clark, Jr. | March 23, 1973 | March 24, 1981 | Governor Reagan |
Frank K. Richardson | December 2, 1974 | December 2, 1983 | Governor Reagan |
Wiley Manuel | March 24, 1977 | January 5, 1981 | Governor J. Brown |
Rose Elizabeth Bird* | March 26, 1977 | January 5, 1987 | Governor J. Brown |
Frank C. Newman | July 16, 1977 | December 13, 1982 | Governor J. Brown |
Otto Kaus | July 21, 1981 | October 16, 1985 | Governor J. Brown |
Allen Broussard | July 22, 1981 | August 31, 1991 | Governor J. Brown |
Cruz Reynoso | February 11, 1982 | January 5, 1987 | Governor J. Brown |
Joseph Grodin | December 27, 1982 | January 5, 1987 | Governor J. Brown |
Malcolm Lucas* | April 6, 1984 | May 1, 1996 | Governor Deukmejian |
Edward A. Panelli | December 24, 1985 | May 3, 1994 | Governor Deukmejian |
John Arguelles | March 18, 1987 | March 1, 1989 | Governor Deukmejian |
David Eagleson | March 18, 1987 | January 6, 1991 | Governor Deukmejian |
Marcus Kaufman | March 18, 1987 | January 31, 1990 | Governor Deukmejian |
Joyce L. Kennard | April 5, 1989 | Present | Governor Deukmejian |
Armand Arabian | March 1, 1990 | March 1, 1996 | Governor Deukmejian |
Marvin R. Baxter | January 7, 1991 | Present | Governor Deukmejian |
Ronald M. George* | September 3, 1991 | January 3, 2011 | Governor Wilson |
Kathryn Werdegar | May 3, 1994 | Present | Governor Wilson |
Janice Rogers Brown | May 2, 1996 | June 30, 2005 | Governor Wilson |
Ming Chin | March 1, 1996 | Present | Governor Wilson |
Carlos R. Moreno | October 18, 2001 | February 28, 2011 | Governor Davis |
Carol Corrigan | January 4, 2006 | Present | Governor Schwarzenegger |
Tani Cantil-Sakauye* | January 3, 2011 | Present | Governor Schwarzenegger |
Goodwin Liu | September 1, 2011 | Present | Governor J. Brown |
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