For the 19th consecutive year, California's judicial bench has become more diverse, according to the Judicial Officer Demographic Data report released by the Judicial Council. The data reflects demographic information self-reported by justices and judges as of December 31, 2024, with a response rate exceeding 93% of all judicial officers.
The report indicates that female judicial officers now make up 43.3% of the bench across all court levels. This marks a two percentage point increase from the previous year and a rise of over 15 percentage points since December 2006, when such data was first collected.
Racial and ethnic diversity among judicial officers has also seen significant growth. The percentage of Asian, Black, and Hispanic judges has more than doubled since 2006. These changes are part of a broader effort to increase diversity within California's judiciary.
The Judicial Council’s Strategic Plan for California’s Judicial Branch underscores its commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive court system. Initiatives like the Pathways to Judicial Diversity toolkit encourage courts to engage with underrepresented groups about pursuing legal careers.
Moreover, the statewide Judicial Mentor Program is a collaboration between the Governor’s office and California courts aimed at recruiting qualified and diverse judicial candidates. Local mentor programs have also been initiated by appellate and superior courts.
Since Governor Gavin Newsom took office in 2019 through 2024, over half of his 576 judicial appointments have been women or individuals identifying as Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic, or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.
A survey conducted in December 2024 provides insights into the demographics of California's bench regarding gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, veteran status, and disability status.
In terms of gender identity and sexual orientation—data included for the past fourteen years due to legislation passed in 2011—the majority identified as heterosexual (79.7%), with smaller percentages identifying as lesbian (1.9%), gay (2.8%), bisexual (0.4%), transgender (0%), nonbinary (0%), or having more than one gender identity/sexual orientation (0.2%).
Regarding veteran status, out of 1075 respondents on active duty as judicial officers who answered this question, six percent indicated military service experience. For disability status questions answered by 1079 respondents actively serving on duty as judicial officers today: three-and-a-half percent reported having disabilities themselves personally today too!
Government Code section 12011(5n) mandates annual collection & release reports reflecting aggregate demographic data concerning state-level justice positions held within Californian jurisdictions statewide each March annually ever since its inception nineteen years ago now!