Stumped trying to vote for judges? Here are six things you need to know
How many voters have diligently studied candidates and ballot initiatives prior to election day, only to be stumped by a sometimes excruciatingly long list of unfamiliar names of people trying to get or retain jobs as judges?
On Sacramento County’s ballot this June are the names of just two candidates for judge, Heath Langle and James Morris, who are running unopposed for two separate seats on the county’s Superior Court bench. Both are currently working in quasi-judicial roles as Superior Court commissioners.
But Yolo and Placer Counties each have contested races. In Yolo County, Ryan Davis, a former public defender who currently serves as a Superior Court Commissioner hearing family law cases in Sacramento County, is facing off against Diane Ortiz, a Yolo County Deputy District Attorney.
In Placer County, Rocklin Mayor Dave Bass is challenging an incumbent judge, Leon Dixson.
But how can voters go about finding information on these candidates or others seeking to hold judicial office? And why do we elect our judges anyway?
We put together this primer to provide some answers.
How are judges chosen in California?
Judges in California are chosen via a combination of appointments and elections. Superior Court judges, the ones who preside over criminal and civil trials at the county level, can stand for election if a seat is open, or they can be appointed by the governor to fill a vacancy if a judge retires.
Elected judges serve six-year terms, and appointed judges must stand for re-election in accordance with a formula detailed in the state constitution, usually within a couple of years of joining the bench.
Appeals court judges are nominated by the governor and approved by a state commission. They serve 12-year terms but must also face the voters in so-called retention elections at the end of their terms. Justices for the state supreme court are also chosen in this way.
Incumbent judges who are running unopposed in these retention elections do not appear on the ballot.
Why do we have this system?
California’s system is a compromise between two competing strains of thought, said David Carillo, executive director of UC Berkeley’s California Constitution Center and editor of California Legal History magazine.
One philosophy argues that judges should be completely independent and not subject to the volatile forces of public opinion, while the other, borne out of corruption concerns in the 1800s and early 1900s, argues that judges should be less beholden to politicians, and voters should have a voice.
A third element was added to the system during the Progressive Era, giving voters the ability to recall judges in special elections outside of their regular terms, Carrillo said.
“There’s a big debate as to which system is better,” said Nicolas Heidorn, who teaches law and public policy at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. “On the one hand, judicial elections maybe provide some democratic accountability, but on the other hand, appointment without election may ensure more impartiality.”
Numerous studies show that judges facing re-election tend to hand down harsher sentences in criminal trials, Heidorn said.
Sitting judges are rarely challenged, but it does happen
It’s fairly rare for a judge to be recalled or to lose a retention election, but both have happened in recent memory. In 2018, Santa Clara County voters angry over what they believed was a lenient sentence in a sexual assault case recalled Judge Aaron Persky in the first such action against a sitting jurist since 1932.
In 2006, a Southern California judge with 20 years on the bench and the endorsements of colleagues was unseated in a contested retention election by a lawyer who had previously owned a bagel shop with her husband. Voters in a 1986 retention election rejected Rose Bird, the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, and two liberal colleagues, over dissatisfaction with decisions overturning numerous death penalty sentences.
How can I find information about judicial candidates in my county?
In contested judicial elections, candidates will often run modest campaigns, including setting up websites with information about their backgrounds, any endorsements and other indications about how they would approach the job.
In the Placer County race, Bass lists endorsements that include the group Crime Victims United and numerous law enforcement officials, sitting judges and politicians including State Sen. Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks). Dixson also has a website, where he offers biographical information and says that all the sitting judges currently in Placer County have endorsed him. His list of endorsements includes more than 80 California judges.
In Yolo County, Davis highlights his judicial philosophy on his campaign page, saying he believes judges “should listen carefully, treat everyone with respect, and make decisions grounded in compassion, integrity, and fairness.” Ortiz, his opponent, emphasizes her experience as a prosecutor and says she was inspired by her father, a Californiai Highway Patrol officer.
Morris, running unopposed in Sacramento County, emphasizes his background as a court commissioner, prosecutor and member of the military. Langle, also running unopposed in Sacramento County, has his own website, but he also has a history that can be found by searching online. A search of his name, for example, brings up a profile in the Daily Journal legal publication as well as a press release from his alma mater, the Lincoln Law School of Sacramento, naming him alumnus of the year in 2025.
Is there information about candidates that they don’t control themselves?
Very often, local bar associations will publish profiles of lawyers and judges in their magazines that can include their career histories and their approaches to the law. Sacramento Lawyer, the publication of the Sacramento Bar Association, is one place to check if you are trying to research a lawyer or judge.
All bar associations in the state help to research the qualifications of people who are seeking judicial appointments from the governor, but the only ones to make such information public are those in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties. Voters in Los Angeles County, for example, could turn to the local report to learn that one judge in a contested race, Robert Draper, is considered by the bar to be “not qualified” for the office.
Another place to look up information on judges is the website of the Commission on Judicial Performance. It shows pending cases and lists any public admonishments, censures or suspensions that have been issued against California judges. Because judges must also be lawyers, the State Bar of California is also a resource. The organization’s attorney search provides contact information for attorneys as well as the status of their licenses and any disciplinary actions taken against them.
The state also posts biographies of appeals court judges online, as well as profiles of supreme court justices that can be resources when they are on the ballot.
What if I can’t find much on judges running in my area?
If judges are not in contested elections, they don’t tend to spend big money on campaigns or developing an online presence, said Carrillo. Many don’t even put candidate statements on their local ballots, or respond to the request for information from groups like the League of Women Voters, said Goldberg.
Carrillo suggests doing an online search for the names of judges running in your area, and checking resources like the Commission on Judicial Performance, but says not to sweat it if you don’t come up with much. If there’s not much written the judges on your list, they may just be quietly doing their jobs.
“My takeaway would be, if you’ve never heard of a judge one way or the other, they’re probably doing fine,” he said.
