Andhra Native Jaya Badiga Takes Oath as Sacramento County Superior Court Judge With Sanskrit Prayer
- Gov. Newsom also appointed Raj Singh Badhesha as judge in the Fresno County Superior Court.
Indian American attorney Jaya Badiga was sworn-in this week as a judge in the Sacramento County Superior Court in California. The Vijaywada-born Badiga fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Robert S. Lapham. She was appointed to the post by Gov. Gavin Newsom in March.
A certified family law specialist, she previously served as a commissioner at the Sacramento County Superior Court since 2022. During the swearing-in, she offered Swagatam (welcome in Telugu) and ended her speech with the Sanskrit prayer Asathoma, news reports in Indian media said.
A sole practitioner from 2018 to 2022, she served as an attorney at the California Department of Health Care Services in 2020 and at California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services in 2018. Before that she was managing attorney at WEAVE Inc., and attorney advisor at Galaxy Architects & Infrastructure. She also served as staff counsel at the California Employment Development Department from
She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Santa Clara University School of Law and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations and International Communications from Boston University. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Political Science from Hyderabad’s Omani University.
Separately, the governor appointed Raj Singh Badhesha of Fresno County as a judge in the Fresno County Superior Court. Most recently the chief assistant city attorney in Fresno, he is the first Sikh to be appointed to the Fresno County bench. He has served in various other roles in the County Administrative Office since 2012 Before that he was an associate at Baker Manock & Jensen. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings). He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Jon N. Kapetan.
(Photos from LinkedIn page of Myrlys Stockdale Coleman, Judge at Sacramento Superior Court.)