Superior Court of California, County of Orange

1What can this job do?

The Superior Court is the county's trial court — where the law actually gets applied to real cases. Its judges, elected countywide, decide criminal trials, lawsuits, divorces and custody, traffic tickets, evictions, wills, and more. This is the branch of government that settles disputes and weighs guilt, one case at a time.

✗It does NOT make the laws (legislatures do) or prosecute people (the District Attorney does). Judges decide the cases brought to them; they do not run police or enforce their own rulings.

2What has this person done with it?

We don't track individual judges' records here — and because judges are elected countywide on six-year staggered terms, there isn't one "your judge" to follow. Where a judge's public record actually lives: the California Commission on Judicial Performance (cjp.ca.gov), the independent state agency that investigates complaints and publicly disciplines judges; the court's own case records, which are public and viewable case by case; appellate rulings, which can uphold or overturn a judge's decisions; and campaign-finance filings with the Orange County Registrar of Voters for judges who've stood for election. Those are the primary sources — we'd rather point you to them than summarize selectively.

We only log matters of public record, in the same format for every official — never opinion or news coverage.

3How does this affect you?

This is the county court system — where legal disputes in Orange County get decided. If you are charged with a crime, sued, get divorced, fight a traffic ticket, serve on a jury, or handle a will, it happens here. It is one court system for the whole county, with locations around Orange County, and judges are elected countywide rather than by neighborhood. Most residents never think about it until they need it, but it is the branch of government that settles the cases that touch real people.

4How do you change it?

Here's what almost nobody realizes about judges: most first reach the bench by appointment of the Governor, then run as incumbents — and in many elections they run unopposed. Superior Court judges serve six-year, staggered terms, elected countywide, and their contests sit at the very bottom of the ballot — the races voters skip most. When a seat is contested, the small number of people who vote that far down the ballot are the ones who decide it. Registration, your polling place, and what's on your ballot: Orange County Registrar of Voters (ocvote.gov).

We haven't verified when this office is next on the ballot — rather than guess, we say so.