Justice Marsha Slough, 1958 -- 2026

Retired Justice Marsha G. Slough, whose two decades on the California bench took her from working directly with troubled teenagers in San Bernardino County to helping lead the state judiciary through the COVID-19 pandemic, died Saturday following an illness. She was 68.

Slough retired from the 4th District Court of Appeal, Division 2, in Riverside in 2023 after nearly a decade on the appellate bench. She previously spent more than a decade on the San Bernardino County Superior Court, including three years as its presiding judge.

Throughout that career, colleagues described a jurist whose meticulous attention to the law was accompanied by an unusual concern for the people affected by it.

"Justice Slough leaves behind a legacy defined by integrity, intellect, and an unwavering devotion to the fair administration of justice," Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero said in a statement. "Throughout her career, she brought not only sharp legal judgment but also genuine humanity to her work."

That humanity was apparent early in Slough's judicial career.

In 2007, while presiding over a juvenile delinquency court in San Bernardino County, Slough ran a 5K in Loma Linda alongside her bailiff, court reporter -- and several teenage offenders in the court system.

"Judge Slough and her staff regularly go out and jog with some of the kids," Deputy District Attorney Michael A. Chiriatti told the Daily Journal at the time. "She does this to show the kids she cares about them and to be involved in their lives."

Slough worked with probation officials, lawyers and mental health professionals on programs designed to divert young offenders from the criminal justice system. Attorneys remembered her as innovative and demanding but also able to connect with teenagers who had little reason to trust authority.

"[Slough] doesn't preach to the kids or talk down to them," defense attorney Robert F. Alvarenga said in 2007. "Even the most hardened kids respond."

Her route to the judiciary was far removed from the elite institutions that produce many appellate judges.

"I did not grow up in an Ivy League world," Slough told the Daily Journal in 2017. "I call myself a blue-collar judge and justice."

Born in Texas and raised in southwestern Kansas, Slough attended Ottawa University on a basketball scholarship and played point guard. She joked that although she stood 5-foot-5, she listed herself at 5-foot-8 in the team program.

"I didn't have a great shot, but I was fast," she recalled.

Slough came to California after college and initially worked in research at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Inspired in part by an older brother who became a civil rights lawyer, she attended Whittier Law School and graduated in 1986. She practiced civil litigation before Gov. Gray Davis appointed her to the San Bernardino County bench in 2003.

She ultimately served as presiding judge of the county's juvenile court from 2007 to 2010 and as presiding judge of the Superior Court from 2012 to 2015. Gov. Jerry Brown elevated her to the 4th District Court of Appeal in 2015, where she became the court's first openly gay justice.

On the appellate bench, Slough developed a reputation for detailed, carefully reasoned opinions and for focusing intently on how the facts of a case fit the governing law.

"I probably lean more into how the facts fit in," she told the Daily Journal in 2017. Lawyers who appeared before her described her questions as highly specific and her opinions as thorough and understandable.

Slough wrote 454 opinions during her appellate tenure, 55 of them published. But her influence extended well beyond her own court.

She spent nearly a decade on the Judicial Council and chaired its Executive and Planning Committee. During the pandemic, Slough played a central role in drafting emergency rules intended to keep courts functioning while reducing COVID-19 transmission in jails and limiting evictions and foreclosures. She later led a statewide group examining which pandemic-era innovations should become permanent.

She also chaired the judicial branch's Pretrial Reform and Operations Workgroup, helping launch pilot programs that eventually expanded to all 58 counties.

Former Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye said Slough combined "astute policies with compassionate leadership" and was instrumental in developing some of the Judicial Council's "most critical, sensitive, and impactful policies."

"In all of her responsibilities, and they were myriad, she brought her analytical brilliance and collaborative nature," Cantil-Sakauye said. "Justice Slough worked tirelessly to improve justice in California, and she wildly succeeded in that endeavor."

When Slough retired in 2023, she reflected on what two decades on the bench had taught her.

"The past 20 years has afforded me the unique privilege of observing firsthand the importance of the rule of law and the true value in a commitment to justice for all," she said.

Slough is survived by her spouse, Jill Sibler.