Monique Langhorne Wilson

Justice Monique S. Langhorne Wilson was appointed to the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division One in December 2023 by Governor Gavin Newsom.  The Commission on Judicial Appointments confirmed her appointment in January 2024.  

Before joining the First Appellate District, Justice Langhorne Wilson was the first African American, appointed in 2018 by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., to serve as a Judge of the Napa Superior Court.  Langhorne Wilson would later retain her seat in a contested election in Napa County in 2020 with over 80% of the vote. In early 2023, during her last year as a Superior Court Judge, Justice Langhorne Wilson served as a Justice Pro Tem for three months with the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Five.  

Prior to her appointment as a Judge, Justice Langhorne Wilson was the first African American to sit on the Napa Bench when she was selected as a Commissioner for the Superior Court in 2006.  During her tenure as a Judge for five years and a Commissioner for twelve years, Justice Langhorne Wilson served in a variety of judicial assignments: Supervising Judge of the Criminal Division; master criminal department; civil and criminal jury trials; civil law and motion; felony preliminary hearings; the trial court’s Appellate Division; AB1058 child support calendar, juvenile dependency and delinquency; truancy court; family law; civil harassment and domestic violence restraining orders; small claims; misdemeanors; juvenile and adult drug court and traffic court; Mental Health Court; probate hearings; conservatorships and guardianships; firearm prohibition hearings, habeas petitions; forced medication hearings; unlawful detainer trials.

Immediately preceding her appointment to the bench as a Court Commissioner, Justice Monique Langhorne Wilson was a Deputy District Attorney.  She was the first African American to serve in this capacity in Napa County.  

Justice Langhorne Wilson was faculty for New Judges Orientation, (NJO), 2017-2023 and a host of other educational courses offered through the California Center for Judicial Education and Research, (CJER).  She also served on the 2012-2013, B.E. Witkin Judicial College Steering Committee and the Ethics and Fairness Curriculum Committee, 2008-2011. Justice Langhorne Wilson was appointed to the Executive Committee for the California Judicial Mentorship Program (CJMP) and prior to her elevation to the Court of Appeal, sat as the liaison for the North Bay Regional Committee for CJMP. She is currently a member of the California Association of Black lawyers, (CABL), Association of African American California Judicial Officers, Inc. (AAACJO), Charles Houston Bar Association, (CHBA), and a board member with the newly formed California Women Judges (CWJ).  

Justice Langhorne Wilson received her B.A. in 1996 from the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in Rhetoric and African American Studies.  She earned her J.D. from Berkeley Law (formerly Boalt Hall) in May of 1999. 

In her spare time, Justice Langhorne Wilson loves spending time with family and working with children.  She is a mentor with the Jesse Bethel High School Law Academy in Vallejo and the Presiding Judicial Officer for American Canyon Peer Court.