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Statewide judicial office

2026 retention election

Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court

Current officeholder

Joshua P. Groban

Justice Joshua P. Groban currently serves on California’s highest court. The Secretary of State lists the next retention vote for November 3, 2026.

Court
California Supreme Court
Electorate
California voters statewide
Court location
San Francisco
Outline map of California
California statewide
i
This retention vote appears on ballots for voters throughout California.

Office overview

What voters are deciding

The office, electorate, and court jurisdiction are separate from the record of the person currently holding the office.

Court levelState highest courtOne chief justice and six associate justices
ElectorateStatewideCalifornia voters statewide
Ballot choiceYes or NoNo opposing candidate
Current term endingJanuary 4, 2027Date listed by the Secretary of State
Next scheduled vote

Listed for the 2026 general election, pending certification

Yes or No retention vote

A Yes vote retains the justice in office. A No vote means the justice is not retained in the office.

Current term listed ending
January 4, 2027
Official note
The Secretary of State schedule lists this term ending January 4, 2027. The page will be updated after candidate certification.
California Secretary of State judicial terms schedule →
Official portrait of Joshua P. Groban
Official court portrait ↗

Current officeholder

Joshua P. Groban

The official court profile and state election schedule identify this justice as the current officeholder. The appointing officeholder is shown from the linked public appointment record.

Role
Associate Justice
Official profile
Since 2019
Oath date
January 3, 2019
Term listed ending
January 4, 2027
Appointed by
Edmund G. Brown Jr. (Jerry Brown)Governor of California, 2018.View appointment source ↗
Read the official biography ↗

General jurisdiction

Types of matters this court hears

These categories describe the court’s work, not a current assignment list for one justice.

Review of appellate decisions

Selects important legal questions and resolves conflicts among California Courts of Appeal.

Death-penalty appeals

Reviews appeals when a California trial court imposes a judgment of death.

Original proceedings

May hear habeas corpus and extraordinary-writ matters within its constitutional jurisdiction.

Professional discipline

Reviews certain recommendations concerning discipline of judges and attorneys.

Court colleagues

Other members of this court

The seven-member Supreme Court decides cases as a full court.

Current vacancy

1 position

1 of the court unit’s authorized positions is listed as vacant.

Roster reviewed · Official current justices roster ↗

Past judicial record

Selected authored opinions

A small, subject-diverse set of published majority opinions authored by the justice. This is a reading list, not a rating or complete opinion count.

S283862

Gilead Tenofovir Cases

  • Product liability
  • Drug manufacturer duty

Majority opinion by Groban

The court held that drug manufacturers do not owe users of a nondefective drug a duty to commercialize an allegedly safer alternative sooner. It directed the trial court to grant summary judgment for Gilead.

ResultCourt of Appeal judgment reversed; summary judgment for Gilead directed

Read the court record ↗
S290188

Maniago v. Desert Cardiology Consultants’ Medical Group, Inc.

  • Civil procedure
  • Appealability

Majority opinion by Groban

The unanimous court held that plaintiffs who voluntarily dismissed all claims before any claim was finally resolved forfeited appellate review of the trial court’s interim rulings.

ResultCourt of Appeal judgment affirmed; appeal dismissed for lack of jurisdiction

Read the court record ↗
S287285

J.O. v. Superior Court

  • Judicial disqualification
  • Separation of powers

Majority opinion by Groban

The unanimous court held that a court may examine an otherwise automatic judicial-disqualification challenge after a prima facie showing that a party is making bad-faith blanket challenges against a judge.

ResultCause remanded to the Court of Appeal for further proceedings

Read the court record ↗

Public court records

Calendar, dockets, and opinions

Calendars show scheduled court proceedings, not a personalized list of cases assigned to this justice. This page does not publish an active-case feed.

Oral argument calendar

See upcoming Supreme Court sessions and published argument calendars.

Open calendar ↗

Supreme Court docket search

Search public Supreme Court case information by case number or case name.

Search dockets ↗

Opinions archive

Browse recent and historical opinions issued by the Supreme Court.

Browse opinions ↗

Public accountability

Judicial discipline

Public accountability records from California’s Commission on Judicial Performance.

Public decisions foundNo public discipline decision located

Search: Joshua Groban, all court levels · reviewed

The CJP public decisions database returned 0 records for this exact-name search across all court levels.

Important limit: The database covers public judicial disciplinary cases since 1960. Matters without public charges or public discipline remain confidential, so a zero-result search should not be read more broadly.

News and Press Releases

Updates involving this office

Relevant coverage will be added only after each story and image passes review.

Research status

News and press-release review in progress

Stories will appear after relevance, publication date, source quality, summary, and a usable story image have been verified. No absence of coverage should be inferred from this draft.

Methodology and limits

Data coverage and sources

Coverage is assessed against the records expected for this judicial office page and is updated as new public information is verified.

Current assessmentResearch draft

The office identity, election schedule, court structure, official profile, portrait, colleague roster, and public-record access links have passed the initial source gate.

  • Verified nowOfficeholder, role, court, oath date, term endpoint
  • Verified nowBench size, retention schedule, official biography and portrait
  • Verified nowNamed appointing officeholder and linked appointment source
  • Verified nowExact-name public discipline search and confidentiality limit
  • Verified nowThree years of court- or division-wide workload statistics
  • Verified nowThree selected published majority opinions and neutral summaries
  • In progressRelevant news and press-release review
Assessed August 18, 2026 · Current official records

This draft is not yet cleared for publication. It does not imply that an unfinished section has no records.

Sources used on this page5 source organizations · 17 records
California Secretary of State
Supreme Court of California
Office of the Governor of California
Judicial Council of California
Commission on Judicial Performance
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