Commission Confirms Appointments to Courts of Appeal

Public documents on the appointees are available here. 

Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, chair of the Commission on Judicial Appointments, announced that the commission today confirmed two nominations to the California Courts of Appeal in San Francisco and San Diego.

The nominees were confirmed by unanimous vote of the three-member commission, which includes: Chief Justice Guerrero (Chair); Attorney General Rob Bonta; and Presiding Justice Jim Humes (for the First Appellate District hearing), or Presiding Justice Manuel A. Ramirez (for the Fourth Appellate District hearing).

The nominees confirmed were:

• Judge Danny Chou as associate justice of the First District Court of Appeal, Division Five (San Francisco)
   
• Judge David Rubin as an associate justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division One (San Diego)

Appointee Biographies

Judge Danny Chou fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Henry E. Needham. Judge Chou has served as a San Mateo County Superior Court judge since 2018. Judge Chou served as an assistant county counsel at the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office from 2012 to 2018. He served as chief of complex and special litigation at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office from 2008 to 2012, where he was chief of appellate litigation from 2006 to 2008. Judge Chou served as a supervising staff attorney at the California Supreme Court from 2005 to 2006, where he was also a judicial staff attorney from 1999 to 2005. He was a staff attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit from 1998 to 1999, an associate at Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk and Rabkin from 1995 to 1998, and a law clerk for Judge Stanley A. Weigel at the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California from 1994 to 1995. Judge Chou earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School.

Judge David Rubin fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Cynthia G. Aaron. Judge Rubin has served as a San Diego County Superior Court judge since 2007. Judge Rubin served as a deputy district attorney at the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office from 1987 to 2007. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law.