Danny Y. ChouIncumbent

Candidate for Court of Appeal Justice, California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division 5, Seat 3

Danny Y. Chou is an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Five. He earned his B.A. from Harvard University. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School. He clerked for Judge Stanley A. Weigel. Weigel served on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Chou then worked as a staff attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He also worked at the Supreme Court of California. There he was a judicial staff attorney, and later a supervising staff attorney, for Justice Janice R. Brown. In public law practice, he worked at the San Francisco City Attorney's Office. He served as Chief of Appellate Litigation there. He also served as Chief of Complex and Special Litigation. He then became an Assistant County Counsel for Santa Clara County. He supervised the office's Social Justice and Impact Litigation, Health and Hospitals, and Probate teams. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. appointed him to the San Mateo County Superior Court in December 2017. He took the bench in February 2018. He served as a civil direct calendar judge. He also served as a preliminary hearing and trial judge, a grand jury judge, and an appellate division judge. He sat pro tem on Division Three of the First Appellate District. Governor Gavin Newsom appointed him to the Court of Appeal in February 2023. He succeeded Justice Henry E. Needham Jr. The Commission on Judicial Appointments confirmed him in July 2023. He joined the court after the 2022 election. So the nonpartisan yes-or-no retention vote on the November 3, 2026 ballot is his first before voters. There is no opponent.

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