Under state law, the California courts are required to "collect and release aggregate demographic data relative to the race, ethnicity, and gender of California state court justices and judges ... on or before March 1 of each year." This year's report (22-page PDF) is out today. Not surprisingly, it shows the state bench looks markedly different from the state as a whole. Following is the top line breakdown by race/ethnicity the state's 1,699 judges—the count includes the Supreme Court, state Courts of Appeal, and Superior Court judges in the 58 counties. For fun and (perhaps) perspective, we've compared the bench statistics with numbers on the state's prison population and its population as a whole. (All figures are percentages.)
| Ethnicity/race | Judges | Prisoners | State population |
| White | 72.3 | 25.6 | 40.8 |
| Latino/Hispanic | 8.2 | 39.3 | 37.2 |
| African American | 5.6 | 29.0 | 5.9 |
| Asian | 5.4 | -- | 12.4 |
| Native American | 0.4 | NA | 0.6 |
| Pacific Islander | 0.2 | NA | 0.4 |
| Other | 0.9 | 6.1 | NA |
| Multiracial | 3.5 | NA | 2.8 |
| Male | 69.2 | 93.6 | 50.1 |
| Female | 30.8 | 6.4 | 49.9 |
(All figures are percentages.)
Sources:
Judges: 2011 Demographic Data Reports (22-page PDF)
Prisons: California Prisons and Parolees, 2009 (132-page PDF)
Population: California Department of Finance: California County Race / Ethnic Population Estimates and Components of Change by Year, July 1, 2000–2008 (60-page Excel spreadsheet); U.S. Census Burea, California Quick Facts (for state gender population only).