Gonzalez Appointed to Imperial County Superior Court Bench

-Editorial 

Martin Gonzalez has been appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to serve as a judge of the Imperial County Superior Court, filling a vacancy created by the elevation of former Judge Eran Marie Bermúdez to the California Fourth District Court of Appeal.

Gonzalez has served as a referee with the Imperial County Superior Court since 2022. Before that, he was a deputy district attorney with the Imperial County District Attorney’s Office from 2017 to 2022.

From 2009 to 2017, Gonzalez worked as an associate at Walker & Driskill. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Gonzalez is registered without party preference.

Bermúdez was sworn in Aug. 22 as an associate justice of the California Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division One, in San Diego.

Newsom nominated Bermúdez to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Richard D. Huffman. Her appointment was confirmed in May after approval by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation unanimously rated her “exceptionally well qualified.”

Bermúdez served as a judge of the Imperial County Superior Court from 2018 to 2026. Her fellow judges elected her presiding judge, making her the first Latina to hold that position in Imperial County.

In 2025, the California Supreme Court appointed Bermúdez as a special master in proceedings initiated by the Commission on Judicial Performance.

Before joining the bench, Bermúdez worked in the public and private sectors. She was an associate attorney with Best Best & Krieger LLP from 2005 to 2011 before becoming a partner at Garcia Hernández Sawhney LLP, where she practiced education, public agency, and labor law.

From 2016 to 2018, she served as a compliance resolution officer in the University of California, San Diego’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment & Discrimination.

Bermúdez was born and raised in the Imperial Valley. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Irvine, and a law degree from the UC Berkeley School of Law. She was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2005.

She is a past president of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association and serves on the advisory board of the Chief Justice’s Power of Democracy Civic Learning Initiative.

Her swearing-in ceremony also had ties to the Imperial Valley. Bermúdez was sworn in by Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, the 29th chief justice of California and the first Latina to serve as chief justice.

Guerrero, a graduate of Imperial High School, has pursued a legal career that took her from the Imperial Valley to the California Supreme Court.