OAKLAND — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is appointing Martin Jenkins to the California Supreme Court, the first openly gay justice and third African American man nominated for the state’s highest court.

Jenkins, 66, currently serves as Newsom’s judicial appointments secretary. A native of San Francisco and the son of a janitor and nurse, Jenkins became an NFL cornerback with the Seattle Seahawks before entering law and a judicial path that has earned him praise — and key appointments — from both Republican and Democratic governors.

appointed in January 2019 to be Newsom’s legal appointments secretary, charged with vetting candidates for vacancies in the state’s appellate and trial courts.
Jenkins appointment marks only the second gay and black justice to serve on a state Supreme Court nationwide. Grace Helen Whitener, an LGBTQ Trinidadian American attorney and jurist, now serves as an associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court, after being nominated by Governor Jay Inslee earlier this year.