Kelli M. EvansIncumbent

Candidate for Associate Justice, California Supreme Court, Seat 3

Kelli M. Evans is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California. She got her bachelor's degree from Stanford University. She got her J.D. from UC Davis School of Law. She graduated in 1994. Her career spans public defense, civil rights work, and government service. She was an assistant public defender in the Sacramento County Public Defender's Office. She was a senior trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department. She was associate director of the ACLU of Northern California. At the State Bar of California, she was senior director for the administration of justice. She was a special assistant to the California Attorney General. She was chief deputy legal affairs secretary for Governor Gavin Newsom. Governor Newsom named her to the Alameda County Superior Court. She was a judge there from 2021 until her next step up. On August 10, 2022, Newsom picked her for the California Supreme Court. The seat was open because Patricia Guerrero moved up to Chief Justice. The Commission on Judicial Appointments confirmed Evans on November 10, 2022. She took the oath on January 2, 2023. She is the first openly lesbian justice on the court. She was named after the 2022 general election. So November 3, 2026 is her first retention vote. It is a nonpartisan, unopposed yes-or-no vote on whether she stays. A full term is 12 years if voters keep her.

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