California Courts Newsroom
August 31, 2017
Judicial Council Public Affairs
415-865-7740
Today, Justice Kathryn Werdegar—the current court's longest-serving justice—retires.
Werdegar's retirement, after 23 years on the California Supreme Court bench, gives Gov. Jerry Brown the opportunity to appoint a fourth justice to the seven-member court. Brown appointed Justice Goodwin Liu in 2011, and Justices Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar and Leondra Kruger in 2014.
Here's a primer on how a state Supreme Court appointment is made:
![](http://cms.ipressroom.com.s3.amazonaws.com/262/files/20177/How+to+Become+a+Supreme+Court+Justice.png)
For more information about how justices are selected, go to http://www.courts.ca.gov/3162.htm.