John WileyIncumbent

Candidate for Court of Appeal Justice, California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division 8, Seat 2

John Shepard Wiley Jr. is an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Eight, in Los Angeles. He earned a B.A. from UC Davis. He earned an M.A. in economics from UC Berkeley. He earned a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law. He was first a clerk for Judge Frank M. Coffin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He then was a clerk for Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court. Wiley went on to be a tenured professor at UCLA School of Law. He joined that faculty in 1983. He won UCLA's Distinguished Teaching Award. He was also a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. At one point, he served as a federal prosecutor too. In 2002, Gov. Gray Davis put him on the Los Angeles County Superior Court, where he served for sixteen years. In November 2018, Gov. Jerry Brown put him on the bench as Associate Justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Eight. That seat came open when Justice Laurence D. Rubin moved up to a new post. The Commission on Judicial Appointments then confirmed the appointment. California's appellate justices face nonpartisan yes or no votes on whether to keep them, not races against a rival. Voters chose to keep Wiley in November 2022, for a term that runs until January 4, 2027. He now appears on the November 3, 2026 ballot for a new retention vote on his seat. If most voters mark yes, he keeps his seat for a new term. If not, the seat opens up, and the Governor picks who fills it next.

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