SAN FRANCISCO (Press Release) — The United States Senate voted 52-47 to confirm President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s, nomination of Justice Gabriel P. Sanchez to serve as a U.S. circuit judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Justice Sanchez was nominated for the judgeship on Sept. 20, 2021, and had his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Nov. 3, 2021. Upon the president’s signing of his judicial commission, Justice Sanchez will occupy a seat made vacant by Circuit Judge Marsha S. Berzon’s assumption of senior status.
Justice Sanchez was appointed by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., as an associate justice on the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, in 2018. Before joining the bench, Justice Sanchez served as deputy legal affairs secretary for the office of Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., from 2012 to 2018. He was the deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice from 2011 to 2012. He engaged in private practice as an associate for Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP at its San Francisco and Los Angeles offices from 2008 to 2011 and from 2006 to 2007, respectively.
As a senior advisor to Governor Brown, Justice Sanchez was responsible for managing and directing all state and federal prisoner class action cases and other significant corrections litigation and appeals, supervising the work of several hundred attorneys from the Office of the Attorney General and outside counsel. Justice Sanchez also advised the governor and other senior staff on criminal justice reform legislation, executive appointments, parole and clemency decisions, and regulatory changes.
He played an instrumental role in the drafting and implementation of the landmark Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016 and its enabling regulations.
While Justice Sanchez was at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, he litigated a wide range of civil matters at the trial and appellate levels. Active in his pro bono practice at the time, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California presented him with the Social Justice Award in 2010 for his work on Bautista v. State of California, a lawsuit that sought to improve and enforce heat illness protection safety regulations for farmworkers in California.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Justice Sanchez received his Bachelor of Arts in 1998 from Yale University, where he was a Mellon-Bouchet fellow from 1996 to 1998 and graduated cum laude with distinction in two majors. He was a Fulbright scholar in 1999 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he surveyed and wrote on presidential electoral campaign politics. He received his master’s degree in philosophy from Cambridge University in 2000 and his Juris Doctor in 2005 from Yale Law School. Following law school, he clerked for Circuit Judge Richard A. Paez of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2005 to 2006.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had 9,487 new filings in fiscal year 2021 ending September 30. All 29 authorized judgeships are currently filled.
Appointed under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, federal circuit court judges are nominated by the president, confirmed by the Senate and serve lifetime appointments upon good behavior.
Gabriel P. Sanchez
