SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT WELCOMES NEW JUDGE STEPHANIE E. THORNTON-HARRIS

Today, Governor Edmund G. Brown announced the appointment of Stephanie E. Thornton-Harris to a judgeship in the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino.

The Governor’s office released the following statement:

Thornton-Harris, 54, of Pasadena has served as a deputy federal public defender in the Federal Public Defender's Office, Central District of California since 2012. She served as a bench officer at the San Bernardino County Superior Court from 2007 to 2011, where she was a juvenile hearing officer from 1999 to 2001. Thornton-Harris served as a judge pro tem at the San Bernardino County Superior Court and the Office of Administrative Hearings from 2003 to 2007 and was an administrative law judge at the Office of Administrative Hearings from 2001 to 2002. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Northwestern University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University. She fills the vacancy of a new position created on September 18, 2017. Thornton-Harris is a Democrat.

Presiding Judge John P. Vander Feer said of the appointment, “We are pleased to receive an appointment to our bench. Ms. Stephanie E. Thornton-Harris is a welcome addition to our court. Her appointment fills a vacancy created by the reallocation of two judgeships to San Bernardino County Superior Court on January 1, 2018, under AB103.”

The San Bernardino County Superior Court has an overall need of 44 additional judicial officers and currently has one judge for every approximately 30,000 residents – one of the highest ratios in the State.