California Confirms First Openly Gay State Supreme Court Justice

On Tuesday, California confirmed the state's first openly gay Supreme Court Justice, Martin Jenkins, CBS News reports.

The Commission on Judicial Appointments unanimously confirmed San Francisco native Jenkins to fill the vacancy of Justice Ming W. Chin, who retired at the end of August. Jenkins has become the first openly-LGTBQ individual – and third Black man – to serve on the highest court in the nation's largest state.

From April 2008 to January 2019, Jenkins served as a judge on the California Court of Appeal for the First District from April 2008 to January 2019, when current California Governor Gavin Newsom asked Jenkins to be his judicial appointments secretary. Jenkins has also served as deputy district attorney and prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division before becoming an Alameda County Court judge. In 1997, Jenkins was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, after which he was appointed to the State Appeals Court system by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Governor Newsom praised Jenkins as "a man of inner strength, grace and compassion" who understands that "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not simply inalienable; they must be relentlessly protected and defended."

Imani Rupert Gordon, Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in a statement:

"NCLR is beyond thrilled that Martin Jenkins was confirmed today by the Commission on Judicial Appointments to serve on the California Supreme Court. Justice Jenkins is an outstanding and highly-regarded individual who will serve with dignity on the highest court in the nation's most populous state. He brings a distinguished abundance of experience both as a civil rights litigator and as a federal and state judge to the court."

"Jenkins' confirmation as the first LGBTQ justice also sends a strong message to both Black and LGBTQ youth in particular that they can achieve any aspiration that they dream of, and who for the first time in our state's history will see themselves reflected at the highest level of our state's judiciary," Jenkins concluded.