California Supreme Court Justice Ming Chin announced his retirement on Wednesday, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. He will serve until the end of August.
The 77-year-old judge is the current court’s longest-serving justice, having been appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1996. According to Law.com, Chin wrote more than 350 majority opinions and 100 separate opinions over three decades.
Chin received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of San Francisco in 1964. In 1967, he received his JD from the University of San Francisco Law School. After graduation, he served as a captain in the US Army during the Vietnam War.
After serving, Chin worked as an Alameda prosecutor and became a partner at the Oakland firm of Aiken, Kramer & Cummings. In 1988, he was named to the Alameda County Superior Court bench, and in 1990 was nominated to the First District Court of Appeal.
According to The San Francisco Chronicle, Chin “compiled a generally conservative record. He dissented on a 4-3 decision that overturned a state ban on same-sex marriage in 2008. He also wrote a 5-2 decision that allowed police to search arrestees’ cell phones without a warrant.
However, in 1997, under a year after being appointed to the California Supreme court, Chin cast the deciding vote that struck down a law requiring minors to receive parental permission for abortions.
According to Law.com, Chin said in a statement released by the court that he was grateful for “the honor and privilege to serve with three very different but spectacular chief justices” during his nearly 24 years as an associate justice.
Chin’s retirement will give California Gov. Gavin Newsom his first nomination to the high court.
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