The Fresno Superior Court announced Friday that it has been selected to receive a new courthouse. The court says with an authorized budget of approximately $749 million the project will culminate in an estimated 413,000-square-foot courthouse with 36 courtrooms.

This Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright. This landmark Supreme Court decision established a constitutional right to counsel for defendants in state criminal courts, even if they cannot pay. In California, the right to legal representation dates back to 1872, and the way the state’s 58 counties have ensured it has shifted over time. Today, California’s indigent defense system is poised for more change.

The fight for water in the West heads to the Supreme Court next week where the justices will decide if the government has a duty to give a tribal nation a share of the region's most precious resource. While states like New Mexico and Utah have come to settlements with the Navajo over water rights, Arizona has been a holdout in these negotiations. Now the Navajo want the federal government to step in on its behalf.

Barrera began presiding over juvenile delinquency cases in 2020. His first two years as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, following his 2018 appointment, were spent in a criminal assignment, also in Lancaster. With adults, fashioning remedies or sentences was the exception. “But in juvenile court, because of the laws and procedures that are in place, it lends itself for the judge to take every case individually to try and fashion the appropriate remedy,” he said.