California Supreme Court Justice Patricia Guerrero won confirmation Friday to serve as the court’s next chief justice, following a hearing in which fellow justices and other legal colleagues praised her as uniquely qualified to lead the state’s judicial branch.
The confirmation means Guerrero will appear on the November ballot statewide and, if approved by voters, will take over in January as the court’s first Latina chief justice.
“I’m honored to be living in a state where a little girl who grew up in the Imperial Valley and raised by immigrant parents from Mexico could grow up, follow her dreams and become the first Latina associate justice on the California Supreme Court,” she said in brief comments after her confirmation. “There has never been a Latino or a Latina to serve as chief justice until now. I am proud to be the first, and I look forward to the second, third and the fourth.”
