Former NFL player set to be the first gay person on the California Supreme Court

Martin Jenkins
Photo: CA Governor’s Office

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) just nominated former state appeals court judge Martin Jenkins to the California Supreme Court. Jenkins would be the state’s first out gay justice on the state’s supreme court, as well as the fifth Black person to serve on the court.

“As a critical member of my senior leadership team, I’ve seen firsthand that Justice Jenkins possesses brilliance and humility in equal measure,” said Newsom in a statement.

Related: California governor signs four LGBTQ rights laws

Jenkins is originally from San Francisco and he attended Santa Clara University before playing football professionally for the Seattle Seahawks. He then attended law school at the University of San Francisco School of Law and worked as a prosecutor, a private attorney, and with the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice before he got his first judicial appointment in 1989 to Alameda County Municipal Court.

He rose through the court system and was even a federal court judge during the Clinton administration before returning to state courts.

“I have never seen a…

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