Former California State Senator Steven Bradford writes in the Sacramento Bee that Governor Gavin Newsom should replace recently retired Supreme Court Justice Martin Jenkins with another Black man.
Bradford says that Jenkins’s “departure creates an urgent opportunity to continue building a judiciary that truly reflects the people it serves.” About Black men, he writes, “We have been overrepresented in the criminal justice system, but underrepresented in the system that defines it. We have been subjects of its rulings, but too rarely its authors.” And, Bradford continues, “When people see themselves in power, it strengthens faith in justice; when they don’t, doubt and distance grow.”
Justice Jenkins was only the third Black man to serve on the Supreme Court out of 119 justices since the court’s founding. There have been three Black women on the court, including two who are currently serving.
