Gavin Newsom’s tenure as governor may be drawing to a close, but he will leave a long legacy on the bench.

Since taking office, Newsom has appointed a total of 521 judges. An overwhelming majority are Democrats. They will shape the future of law and jurisprudence in the Golden State for at least a generation.

In June 2026 alone, Newsom appointed a total of 29 judges, mostly at the Superior Court (lower) level. Of those, 26 are Democrats, while the remaining three are No Party Preference or Independent.

Four of the 29 were Court of Appeals justices. Again, all are Democrats. 

At the same time, Newsom appointed 11 Superior Court judges to serve in various counties. All 11 are Democrats. 

As of July 1, there are a total of 64 judicial vacancies in California. Seven of these are at the appellate court level. LA County Superior Court has the most vacancies, with 23 openings. 

The appointment everyone is most curious about is the California Supreme Court vacancy. The three frontrunners have one thing in common: They were appointed to the bench by Newsom.

Gonzalo C. Martinez is the presiding justice of the 2nd Court of Appeal, and the former deputy of judicial appointments secretary for Newsom. Jose S. Castillo is associate justice of the 4th District Court of Appeal, and was nominated to that post by Newsom. Tracie L. Brown is the presiding justice of the 1st District Court of Appeal, and was appointed by Newsom. 

The California Supreme Court is already stacked with Newsom appointees. Newsom appointed Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero and Associate Justice Kelli M. Evans (both Democrats). Both Associate Justice Martin Jenkins and Associate Justice Kelli Evans worked in Newsom’s administration. The sole Republican appointee is Associate Justice Carol Corrigan, who was put on the bench by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Needless to say, the current California Supreme Court is not fair and balanced, even with a 12-year term limit theoretically creating openings for new ideas. Statistically, a Republican judge doesn’t have a chance of being chosen. Both Newsom and his predecessor, Jerry Brown, appointed Supreme Court justices who were virtually guaranteed to uphold the left-wing status quo.

When it comes to criminal justice, Californians are seeing a correlation between Newsom judicial appointees and lightweight sentences. For example, Newsom appointee Judge Shannon Faherty gave a very light sentence to undocumented immigrant Jashanpreet Singh for the vehicular manslaughter of three people, giving him just four years and 18 months in prison.

Judge R. Paul Kawai, a Ventura County Superior Court judge appointed by Newsom, has drawn ire in two high-profile cases over soft sentences.

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One was the Paul Kessler homicide case. Kessler, a Jewish man, died from blunt force injuries he received at the hands of pro-Palestine protester Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji. Judge Kawai handed down a sentence of one year in county jail after the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office had asked for a longer sentence to be served in state prison. 

Another Newsom judicial appointee, Judge Crystal T. Seiler, recently handed lenient sentences to two men who violently attacked an elderly homeless man as he slept in an Arroyo Grande park. The beating was so severe that the homeless man was left with a permanent brain injury. 

The two men pleaded guilty and no contest to felony elder abuse and great-bodily-injury enhancement. The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office pushed for the maximum sentence of seven years in state prison. However, Seiler issued only one year in county jail and formal probation. 

Newsom isn’t attempting to hide his partisanship in choosing judges. He is using the courts to consolidate the power of the Democrat Party and its ideology.

As he prepares for a likely presidential run in 2028, that record will be in the spotlight. The man who could appoint justices to the US Supreme Court has a record that voters need to understand.