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Per-judge retention calls inside
The ballot
California's appellate justices are not elected in contested races and do not, strictly, face "retention" — the ballot asks, justice by justice, "Shall Associate Justice [name] be elected to the office for the term provided by law?" A YES confirms the justice for the term provided by law; a NO majority would create a vacancy the governor fills by nomination, subject to confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. Justices reach the court the same way: gubernatorial nomination, an evaluation by the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE), and confirmation. The election is November 3, 2026; vote-by-mail ballots are already out.
Two justices of the seven-member Supreme Court are on the ballot: Joshua Groban and Kelli Evans.
The honest gap in California's system: California publishes no official performance evaluations and no retention recommendations for sitting justices — there is no equivalent of Alaska's Judicial Council or Colorado's performance commission. What exists is the Secretary of State's Official Voter Information Guide, which prints each justice's statement of qualifications, and the JNE rating each received before confirmation. This guide works from those official statements, the justices' authored opinions, and news coverage — and says so where the record is thin.
Justice Joshua Groban
- Appointed by: Governor Jerry Brown (nominated 2018; took office January 2019). On the court seven years. He previously stood before the voters at the 2022 general election.
- Before the court: Senior advisor to Governor Brown (2011–2018); litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson (2005–2010) and Paul, Weiss (1999–2005); law clerk to a federal district judge; lecturer at UCLA School of Law (2014–2018). Harvard Law, 1998.
- Evaluation: No sitting-justice evaluation program exists in California (see above). No disciplinary record, ethics finding, or organized campaign against his confirmation appears in our research of the Secretary of State's guide, court news and California coverage.
- Credits: Authored the unanimous May 2026 opinion in J.O. v. Superior Court, curbing "blanket challenges" — the practice of institutional litigants using peremptory disqualification motions to push particular judges off all their cases — which the opinion held threatened judicial independence and impartiality. In February 2024 he filed a statement dissenting from the court's denial of a habeas petition: on-the-record disagreement with his own court, which is independent judgment made visible.
- Dirt: None documented. The criticisms our research found are a humorous interview remark about badly drafted statutes and the fact that he shares a name with a famous singer (a distant cousin). Neither is a performance file.
Justice Kelli Evans
- Appointed by: Governor Gavin Newsom (selected August 10, 2022; unanimously confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments November 10, 2022; sworn in January 2, 2023), succeeding Patricia Guerrero on her elevation to Chief Justice. On the court three years. The JNE Commission rated her well qualified for the Supreme Court (October 2022).
- Before the court: Judge, Alameda County Superior Court (2021–2022); Chief Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary to Governor Newsom (2019–2021); Special Assistant Attorney General (2017–2019); federal court monitor in two districts; Senior Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (1998–2001); ACLU of Northern California staff attorney and associate director. UC Davis law degree, 1994.
- Evaluation: No sitting-justice evaluation program exists in California. No disciplinary record or organized opposition campaign appears in our research.
- Credits: Authored California Medical Association v. Aetna (2023), on organizational standing under the Unfair Competition Law, and Ruelas v. County of Alameda (2024), holding that unpaid pretrial detainees working for a private jail contractor had no state minimum-wage or overtime claim — a ruling against the sympathetic claimant, on the statute as written, which is what applying the law rather than a preference looks like. A pre-bench career spent substantially in federal civil-rights enforcement and federal court monitoring.
- Dirt: None documented. Her pre-bench advocacy career (ACLU, DOJ Civil Rights Division) is biography, printed above — under our rule a judge's pre-bench career as a lawyer is not a performance failure, for her or for anyone.
OUR CALL
Our rule: Retain is the verdict for a judge with a serviceable documented record; removal requires proven cause — documented misconduct, proven activist judging that breaks faith with the law, or an evaluation failure. California gives voters no official evaluation to price; what the record shows for both justices is confirmed qualifications, authored opinions applying statutes as written (including against sympathetic parties), and no sourced adverse record of any kind after a symmetric search of the Secretary of State's guide, court sources and news coverage.
Retain: Joshua Groban, Kelli Evans. Do not retain: none.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources - California Secretary of State — Official Voter Information Guide, Supreme Court justices' statements of qualifications (Groban and Evans biographies) — https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/justices/supreme-court-justices/ - California Courts newsroom / Governor's office, 2022 — Evans selected August 10, 2022; unanimously confirmed November 10, 2022; sworn in January 2, 2023; JNE "well qualified" rating — via Elections Simplified's sourced timeline — https://electionssimplified.com/elections/ae136cf8-2857-462b-bc85-9a257f468c7a - CA Highways ballot analysis, November 2026 — Groban record review (no scandals, ethical violations or disciplinary concerns; J.O. v. Superior Court, May 2026; February 2024 habeas statement) — https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=17921 - 2026 United States judicial elections (compilation citing Ballotpedia) — roster verification — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_judicial_elections
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.