Gov. Gavin Newsom nominates Martin J. Jenkins to the California Supreme Court

By Malcolm Maclachlan

Daily Journal Staff Writer

Gov. Gavin Newsom nominated his judicial appointments secretary, former appellate justice Martin J. Jenkins, to the state Supreme Court on Monday.

He will soon face confirmation hearings before the state's Commission on Judicial Appointments. If confirmed, Jenkins will replace Justice Ming W. Chin, who retired Aug. 31. Jenkins, who is Black, would also be the court's first openly gay justice.

The pick marks a significant change in philosophy from Newsom's predecessor, Gov. Jerry Brown. None of Brown's four recent choices had bench experience, and none was older than 45 when named.

Jenkins is 66 and has a long and especially diverse tenure on the bench. He has served as an Alameda County Superior Court judge, a federal trial court judge and state appellate justice.

Many speculated that Newsom -- and Brown before him -- might appoint an LGBT justice. Two openly-gay Brown appointees, 1st District Court of Appeal Division 1 Presiding Justice James M. Humes and 1st District Division 2 Justice Therese M. Stewart, were considered leading candidates for the state high court.

Jenkins' sexual orientation was known in some legal circles for a while, though he has only begun to speak of it publicly recently.

"It applies to me, and I own it," Jenkins said in a phone interview Sunday night. "It means that I am someone who has taken the requisite amount of time to discern my authentic self and who I am. That journey has been difficult, but for a period of time now I have been telling people who I am. I'm pleased to show up as my authentic self."

Jenkins added that he is prepared for any greater scrutiny that might come from being the first openly gay justice.

"I've also been Black all my life," he said. "So the weight I'm not unaccustomed to. That goes with the territory."

Jenkins was born and raised in San Francisco. He graduated from Santa Clara University, where he was a star defensive back on the football team before briefly playing professionally for the Seattle Seahawks. He graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law with honors.

Frequent moves marked his early legal career, as he jumped in two-year stints from law clerk to Alameda County deputy district attorney to the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He said civil rights work was meaningful for him. Much of it involved investigating and prosecuting instances of excessive use of force by police officers and hate crimes against minorities. Jenkins said the work appealed to him because it allowed him to work on his trial court skills while handling significant cases across the nation.

He moved back to San Francisco after his mother was diagnosed with a serious illness. Jenkins served as in-house counsel to Pacific Bell Telephone Co. for four years.

A lifelong Democrat, Jenkins was given bench appointments by three Republican governors. Gov. George Deukmejian named him to the Alameda County Municipal Court in 1987. Gov. Pete Wilson elevated him to the superior court five years later. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named him to the court of appeal in 2008. In all, he spent nearly 30 years on the bench.

"There were always two requirements for any job I sought," Jenkins said. "That I would grow in terms of the legal skills I would learn and that I would grow as a person."

President Bill Clinton nominated him to the U.S. Northern District of California in 1997. Among his high-profile cases he heard during his over 10 years on the federal bench was the prosecution of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko on money laundering and fraud charges. Jenkins threw out nearly half the charges, though Lazarenko was eventually convicted on several counts.

"I think I came to it with a pretty robust sense of what it takes to be a judge, having been one," Jenkins said. "But what I did learn is that there is an incredible, talent-rich pool of applicants that governors have to choose from. In that pool it is important that there be diversity, in terms of practice areas, race, ethnicity, orientation, so that the bench looks like the face of California."

malcolm_maclachlan@dailyjournal.com