In spring of this year, Governor Gavin Newsom administered the oath of office to Justice Patricia Guerrero, the first Latina justice to sit on the California Supreme Court. Besides hearing oral argument the very next week, one of the first things Guerrero did as the newest Supreme Court justice was volunteer for an interview with members of PressFriends, an all-volunteer nonprofit that works with elementary school students in high-need areas to improve their writing and communication skills.

The selection also shines a spotlight on Masters’ ongoing legal battle to overturn his conviction and death sentence in the murder of a correctional officer at San Quentin State Prison in 1985. Masters’ claims of innocence, and new evidence to support them, are set to be heard for the first time in federal court next month, after being rejected in state courts.

In the weeks since their contentious late June decisions, the justices have demonstrated a lack of awareness about the public concern and appeared even more disconnected, gravitating to like-minded audiences and speaking at closed venues.

(Subscription required) She was one of the lead prosecutors in two capital murder trials of several leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood, which she said had been involved in 17 murders and attempted murders spanning 30 years.