Jose S. Castillo

Justice Jose S. Castillo was nominated to the Court of Appeal by Governor Gavin Newsom on February 17, 2023, and confirmed on April 7, 2023. Before his appointment, Justice Castillo served as a judge of the San Diego Superior Court, presiding over family law matters.

Justice Castillo was born in Mexico and came to the United States as a child. At age seventeen, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. After his honorable discharge, he received an associate’s degree from Santa Rosa Junior College, a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Sacramento, and a law degree from U.C. Davis School of Law.

After law school, Justice Castillo served as a Law Clerk for the Honorable Micaela Alvarez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas from 2006 to 2007. Between 2007 and 2010, he worked as a Staff Attorney with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before his appointment to the superior court, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California between 2010 and 2020.

Justice Castillo has volunteered with several charitable and non-profit organizations, including, among others, the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association Scholarship Fund, Lawyers Club of San Diego, San Diego County Bar Association, and Just the Beginning – A Pipeline Organization (JTB). As part of JTB, Justice Castillo worked with other committee members to bring to San Diego an annual one-week Summer Legal Institute (SLI). The SLI is a pipeline program that introduces the legal profession to local high school students from underrepresented socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds through education and mentorship.