RESEARCH & DATA

Judicial Officer (JO) Demographic Data

Demographic data on gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and veteran and disability status of California State Justices and Judges (Gov. Code § 12011.5(n))*

Current Year: 

Government Code section 12011.5(n) requires the Judicial Council of California to collect and release aggregate demographic data relative to the gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and veteran and disability status of California state court justices and judges, by specific jurisdiction each calendar year. The Governor and the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluations (JNE Commission) of the State Bar of California are required to collect and release similar information for judicial applicants.

In accordance with the requirements of Government Code section 12011.5(n), the Judicial Council has collected data pertaining to the demographic categories described above and prepared separate charts showing:

  1. the overall gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity of responding justices and judges in the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, and trial courts;
  2. the gender of these justices and judges by jurisdiction—for the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal by district, and trial courts by county;
  3. the race/ethnicity of responding justices and judges by jurisdiction;
  4. the specific race/ethnicity reported by those justices and judges who indicated that they consider themselves to be of more than one race/ethnicity;
  5. the sexual orientation and gender identity of responding justices and judges by jurisdiction;
  6. the veteran and disability status of responding justices and judges by jurisdiction; and
  7. comparisons of the current overall data pertaining to gender and race/ethnicity to findings from previous years, beginning in 2007.

Increasing the diversity of California's judicial officers to reflect the rich diversity of California's populace continues to be an important goal of the Judicial Council of California.

Judicial Demographic Data Dashboard (2007 to 2023)

  • The dashboard compiles judicial demographic information across multiple years of data releases. Open in full screen mode to access the dashboard features.