Diversity in the courts: Newest Sacramento judge represents change in California’s judiciary

The face of California’s judiciary continues to change statewide.

More women on the appellate court and on the Los Angeles bench. A new Black judge in the busy Riverside courts. And now in California’s capital, federal defender Jerome Price Jr., will soon take his seat as the latest African-American judge on the Sacramento Superior Court bench.

Price — part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest class of judicial appointees — has served as chief assistant federal defender for the Office of the Federal Defender in the Sacramento-based Eastern District of California since 2021 and has been an assistant defender in the office since 2012.

“Our loss is the Sacramento Superior Court community’s gain,” said Heather Williams, federal defender for the Eastern District.

Williams called Price an “an adept, compassionate and tenacious defense lawyer (who) tirelessly worked to improve our office’s work and increase our voice by telling our clients’ stories and of the challenges we face when defending the accused. His experiences will translate well to his Sacramento judgeship.”

Price joins other Black jurists on the Sacramento bench including Newsom appointees former Sacramento County public defender Allison Williams and former district attorney’s prosecutor Carlton G. Davis; and Sacramento Superior Court’s first Black presiding judge Bunmi O. Awoniyi.

They follow in the path laid by past Black Sacramento Superior Court jurists including Alice Lytle, Gary Ransom, Stacy Boulware Eurie, now an associate justice of the California 3rd District Court of Appeal; and Troy L. Nunley, now a federal judge in Sacramento’s Eastern District.

They also continue a shift in the Sacramento courts that is being mirrored statewide.

“It’s also been a tremendous opportunity to the way our court looks,” Awoniyi said earlier this year. “We have more diversity. We have more women. We have people of color, of different sexual orientation, and some would say that that is a good thing and that it reflects more of the face of California.”

The courts growing more diverse

Nearly 9% of California’s judges identify as Black or African-American, according to the Judicial Council of California’s latest figures, up from 4.6% in 2006, the first year data was collected.

Female judges and justices saw the greatest percentage increase during the span, rising from 27% in 2006, to about 40%. The percentage of Hispanic or Latino judges and justices climbed from 6.3% in 2006 to 12.5%; while Asian justices and judges also increased from 4.4% to more than 9%.

All told, California’s judiciary has grown more diverse every year since that first survey.

Retirements are one driver, but also mentoring and recruiting programs to, as Sacramento’s Awoniyi said, “reflect more of the face of California.”

The council encourages local courts to encourage people in underrepresented groups to pursue law careers; while the statewide Judicial Mentor Program, a joint program between the Governor’s office and the state’s trial courts, works with bar associations, law firms and government attorneys among others to identify, develop and recruit applicants to the bench.

The push has also come from the Governor’s office. Gov. Newsom appointed roughly 300 new judges during his first four years in office. More than half were women, Nearly six in 10 appointed identified themselves as Asian, Black or African-American, Hispanic, or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, according to the Judicial Council.

That trend continued in March with Newsom’s most recent appointees:

▪ Angela J. Davis, a Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner since 2018, now a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.

▪ Arthur C. Hester, a veteran criminal prosecutor in the Riverside County District Attorney’s office before becoming a Riverside Superior Court Commissioner in 2021.

▪ Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Natalie P. Stone was recommended by Newsom to serve as Associate Justice in the Los Angeles-based 2nd District Court of Appeals.