Courts & rulings
California · highest court
Supreme Court of California
Appointed by governor
Chief: The Governor nominates a person directly to the office of Chief Justice (either a sitting associate justice or an outside appointee); the nominee is confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments and then approved by voters in a retention election..
Justices
All judges & justices →- Patricia Guerrero
- Carol A. Corrigan
- Goodwin Liu
- Leondra Kruger
- Joshua Groban
- Kelli Evans
Roster as of 2026-06-13.
Constitution of California
Adopted 1879. Its declaration of rights sits in Article I (Declaration of Rights). This court has the final word on what the California constitution means.
Primacy, interprets its own constitution first
How a state reads its own rights provisions relative to the federal floor, lockstep vs departure.
State-court structure and selection methods are from official and reference sources; the justice roster is point-in-time. Civibrief carries each state's highest court (lower state courts are out of scope for now).