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Joshua Groban
2018 - Present
2027
6
Joshua Groban is a judge of the California Supreme Court. He assumed office on December 21, 2018. His current term ends on January 4, 2027.
Groban ran for re-election for judge of the California Supreme Court. He won in the retention election on November 8, 2022.
Groban was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown (D) in 2018 to succeed former Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar.[1] The California Commission on Judicial Appointments confirmed Groban's nomination on December 21, 2018.[2]
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[3] Groban received a confidence score of Strong Democrat.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Education
Groban received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University, where he graduated with honors and distinction. He obtained a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.[1] Groban clerked for the Hon. William Conner of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1998 to 1999, and from 1999 to 2005 he was an attorney with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP. From 2005 to 2010 Groban was an attorney with Munger, Tolles and Olson LLP, and from 2010 to 2011 he was the legal counsel for the Jerry Brown (D) gubernatorial campaign. From 2011 to 2018 Groban was a senior advisor to Governor Jerry Brown (D), and in 2018 he was appointed to the California Supreme Court.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: California Supreme Court elections, 2022
California Supreme Court, Joshua Groban's seat
Joshua Groban was retained to the California Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 68.0% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
68.0
|
5,664,354 | ||
No |
32.0
|
2,661,668 | |||
Total Votes |
8,326,022 | ||||
|
|
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Joshua Groban did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[5]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[6]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Joshua
Groban
California
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Direct gubernatorial appointment - Key Factors:
- Held political office as a Democrat
- Was a registered Democrat before 2020
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Joshua Groban served as legal counsel for Jerry Brown's (D) gubernatorial campaign. Groban served as Senior Legal Advisor to Gov. Brown. Groban was appointed to the California Supreme Court by Gov. Brown in 2018. At the time of Groban's appointment, California was a Democratic trifecta. Groban was a registered Democrat prior to 2020. Groban contributed $200 to Democratic candidates.
State supreme court judicial selection in California
- See also: Judicial selection in California
The seven justices of the California Supreme Court are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The state bar's Commission on Judicial Nominee Evaluation—also known as the "Jenny Commission"—is required to perform an extensive investigation on prospective appointees. The commission recommends candidates to the governor after examining their qualifications and fitness, ranking them as exceptionally well qualified, well qualified, qualified, or not qualified. The commission is composed of attorneys and public members.[7][8] Although the governor is not bound to these recommendations, the Commission on Judicial Appointments can approve or veto the appointment by majority vote.[9]
Following confirmation from the Commission on Judicial Appointments, the appointed justice is sworn into office and is subject to voter approval at the next gubernatorial election. The appointed justice must be confirmed by voters via a yes-no retention election. According to the California Constitution, the term for a supreme court justice is 12 years. If retained by the voters, the appointed justice remains in office but their term may depend on their predecessor's term. If the predecessor served part of their term before leaving office, the appointed justice would be retained to serve the remainder of their predecessor's term. This would be for either four or eight years. At the end of that term, the justice again must be confirmed by the voters at a gubernatorial election to begin a new 12-year term.[10][11] If a justice has been appointed to a seat where the predecessor's term would have expired the January 1 immediately after that November gubernatorial election, then the justice would serve a full 12-year term.[12]
Qualifications
To serve as a justice, a candidate must have practiced law for at least 10 years in California or served as a judge in California for at least 10 years.[12]
Chief justice
The court uses the same process described above for selecting its chief justice. The governor, with commission approval, appoints a chief justice for a full 12-year term.[13]
Vacancies
Vacancies are filled by gubernatorial appointment. Appointed judges are required to participate in yes-no retention elections occurring at the time of the next gubernatorial race, which is held every four years.[12]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
|
Officeholder California Supreme Court |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., "Governor Brown Selects Joshua Groban for California Supreme Court," November 14, 2018
- ↑ California Courts, "Commission Confirms Joshua Groban to the Supreme Court of California," December 21, 2018
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ The State Bar of California, "Background," accessed March 27, 2023
- ↑ The State Bar of California, "Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation," accessed March 27, 2023
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ California Legislative Information, "Article VI Judicial Sec. 16.," accessed March 27, 2023
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Justices of the Supreme Court," accessed March 27, 2023
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 California Courts, "Judicial Selection: How California Chooses Its Judges and Justices," accessed March 27, 2023
- ↑ Justia, "Supreme Court of California Decisions," accessed March 27, 2023
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California
State courts:
California Supreme Court • California Courts of Appeal • California Superior Courts
State resources:
Courts in California • California judicial elections • Judicial selection in California
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