With the high court having a temporarily vacant seat following the October 2025 retirement of Justice Martin Jenkins, 42 Court of Appeal justices served as pro tempore justices in cases it decided last year. Representing all six appellate districts, these justices participated in cases involving the right to bail, tort liability for drug manufacturers, and peremptory challenges to judges, among other issues of statewide importance.

The number you may see in television ads or plastered on the car’s windshield at the dealership is not always what you end up paying. As of Thursday, the Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Act prohibits a dealer from misrepresenting the total cost of the vehicle they’re selling you. And if you’re planning to lease the car, a dealer cannot mislead you about the terms of the lease.

Two Berkeley housing projects that used a powerful state program to exempt themselves from local labor mandates have inspired a new law barring future developments from following their playbook. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed a bill requiring that large developments comply with local labor standards that mandates builders of major projects provide apprenticeship programs and health care coverage to workers.

Last month, the California Supreme Court rebuked a local sheriff’s unprecedented seizure of roughly 650,000 ballots cast in the state’s November 2025 special election. The sheriff’s seizure of ballots came amid other efforts this year by federal law enforcement to seize or obtain election records in Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan, raising concerns about a similar incident occurring during the upcoming midterms when a seizure could be even more disruptive.