California courts are underfunded, leading to delays in cases, chief justice says

Sharon Bernstein, The Sacramento Bee on Jan 16, 2025

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California’s court system faces an ongoing budget crunch that has contributed to a shortage of judges and slowed the progress of cases, the chief justice of the California Supreme Court said Wednesday.

The state judiciary’s budget of about $5 billion was cut by $97 million amid belt-tightening last year, and while Gov. Gavin Newsom’s initial budget proposal aims to replace about half of that in 2025, the money is not yet assured, Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero told reporters at a briefing Wednesday at the court’s Earl Warren Building in San Francisco.

There are 86 unfilled judgeships in the state, in part because of budget cuts, and cutbacks in 2024 led courts across the state to furlough workers and impose hiring freezes, Guerrero said. At the superior court level, vacant positions for judges include two in Sacramento County. Los Angeles County had the most superior court vacancies with 25.

There is also not enough money to hire lawyers to represent indigent clients, particularly those facing capital punishment who must appeal their cases at three levels in the state system — trial courts, appellate courts and the supreme court — before they can ask a federal court to review their cases, Guerrero said.

The lack of resources has led many courts to cut their hours, slowing down cases and impacting the public, she said.

Last week, state finance officials unveiled the governor’s full $322 billion budget proposal that funds Newsom’s signature educational initiatives and starts to disburse billions of dollars from a voter-approved climate bond. But the document is essentially a first draft of California’s spending plan, and could easily change before a final version is adopted later this year.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office has predicted annual operating deficits of at least $20 billion in each of the next few years, starting in 2026.

Guerrero also addressed other issues facing the courts in California, expressing dismay that some members of the public have come to believe that decisions are made because of the justices’ political leanings. She said the court system, which she oversees, is looking for new ways to communicate with the public, including the possible use of social media to distribute key opinions and other information.

She said that several judges and other court staff in the Los Angeles area had lost their homes to the ongoing wildfires there, but that courts themselves remained open.

Guerrero declined to discuss ongoing cases before the court, or to predict issues that the justices would tackle in 2025.

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