CA's first women justices

See Women's History Month: Celebrating the First Female Judicial Officers in California -- This month, California courts and the Judicial Council of California join the nation in recognizing Women's History Month by commemorating the first women judges and justices at each state court level.

Justice Annette Abbott Adams -- Annette Abbott Adams became the first female justice in California in 1942 when she was appointed presiding justice of the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, by then-Governor Culbert Olson. She was also the first woman to serve on the California Supreme Court bench as a pro tempore judge. Adams' appointment to the state appellate court is just one of the many firsts she achieved in her lifetime. She was also one of the first women to graduate from the University of California with a law degree and the first female Assistant Attorney General of the United States.

Chief Justice Rose Bird -- Rose Bird was the first woman appointed as a justice of the California Supreme Court and the first woman to serve as Chief Justice of California, and chair of the Judicial Council, serving in that role from 1977-1987. Before her appointment to the bench: in 1965, she became the first female law clerk on the Nevada Supreme Court; in 1966, she was the first female deputy public defender hired in Santa Clara County; and in 1975, then-Governor Jerry Brown selected her as his Secretary of Agriculture, the first woman in the state to hold cabinet rank.