Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Two

What this office does

A California Court of Appeal justice sits on the intermediate appellate court. The Judicial Branch's page on what appellate justices do says most legal disputes involving state law are decided first by trial courts or certain administrative agencies, that a party who believes a trial court or agency made an error of law that harmed them may seek appellate review, and that the Court of Appeal decides those cases, with a further request for review possible at the California Supreme Court.

It says the decision of the Court of Appeal is final in the vast majority of cases because the Supreme Court grants review of only a few of them. Appellate courts do not take new evidence or reassess witness credibility: they review the written record to decide whether the trial court properly interpreted the law and used the correct procedures.

Each appeal is considered by a panel of three justices, a majority must agree, and a reversal almost always returns the case to the trial court to be reheard under the correct law. The same page says all justices are bound to apply the law whether or not they personally agree with it, that they may not substitute their own ideas for what the law should be, and that the Code of Judicial Ethics requires them to be faithful to the law regardless of partisan interests, public clamor or fear of criticism.

It says the retention election system was adopted by California voters as part of the state Constitution to foster judicial independence. The Judicial Branch's selection page adds that the office is nonpartisan, that a justice must have practiced law for at least 10 years, that the Governor sends a nominee's name to the State Bar's Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation for a background review that rates the candidate, that the nominee then goes to a public hearing of the Commission on Judicial Appointments, made up of the Chief Justice, the Attorney General and a senior presiding justice, which confirms or rejects the nomination, and that a justice confirmed by the commission must then be confirmed by voters at the next general election.

The same page says a person who violates the standards of the California Code of Judicial Conduct may be removed from office by the Commission on Judicial Performance. The court salaries and staffing table published by Ballotpedia puts a California Court of Appeal justice's salary at $280,052.

Division Two, one of the three divisions of the Fourth Appellate District, hears appeals from the superior courts of Riverside, San Bernardino and Inyo counties and sits in Riverside and keeps a Riverside courthouse that the district says was the first stand-alone building for an appellate court in California.^{S7S8S9S10S11S17S19}

Contest context

• The Secretary of State's certified list of candidates for the November 3, 2026 general election, dated August 27, 2026, and the Secretary of State's separate list of judicial candidates with headings and ballot questions, dated August 24, 2026, both print two Court of Appeal questions for the Fourth Appellate District, Division Two. The certified list prints the question for one seat as: Shall Associate Justice COREY G. LEE be elected to the office for the term provided by law? and the question for the other seat as: Shall Associate Justice MICHAEL J. RAPHAEL be elected to the office for the term provided by law? Both documents print the Fourth District heading over the counties Imperial, Inyo, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego, print no party preference for either name, and print the two Division Two questions in the order Lee, then Raphael. The Secretary of State's voter guide page for the Fourth District lists Division 2 as Corey G. Lee, Associate Justice, and Michael J. Raphael, Associate Justice, each with a link to a Judicial Branch biographical page, and lists no biographical gap for either name. LAist's guide to these questions, Ballotpedia's candidate list for the 2026 intermediate appellate elections and the Los Angeles County Bar Association's list of Fourth District justices all print the two names in the same order. This file keeps that order. No street address was used for this file.^{S1S2S3S17S18S21S22}
• These are retention questions rather than races between candidates, so no candidate statement or campaign platform exists in the usual sense. The Judicial Branch's retention page says no one may run against a justice, that voters simply decide whether the justice shall continue to serve, that a justice who receives a majority of yes votes remains for another term, and that court of appeal justices are retained by the voters of their district rather than statewide. The Orange County Registrar of Voters lists Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, 4th Appellate District, Division 1-3 among the contests qualified for the ballot and prints the same judicial entries in its What's On the Ballot document, so every Fullerton voter sees both Division Two questions plus the Division One and Division Three questions. The lists of judicial candidates with headings and ballot questions add that the Fourth District's territory is the six counties named above, which means voters across the whole district decide the Division Two questions even though Division Two does not hear Orange County appeals, as recorded below. Ballot Explained states that a majority of no votes creates a vacancy that the Governor fills, that retention questions carry no party label, and that voters have removed a California justice at a retention election once, in 1986.^{S1S2S4S5S10S17S31}
• The Judicial Branch's retention page and its primer on judicial selection describe the term structure. Retention elections are held every four years and coincide with gubernatorial elections; appellate justices serve 12-year terms beginning in early January after their election, and a justice appointed partway through a 12-year cycle serves the uncompleted part of the term, either four or eight years, before standing again. The primer says a newly appointed justice must first appear on the ballot at the next such election if there is enough time to file, and it says 64 state judicial officers qualify for retention on this ballot. Ballotpedia records that the current terms of both Division Two seats end on January 4, 2027, and that 62 California Court of Appeal justices are up for retention on November 3, 2026. Ballot Explained counts 63 appellate retention questions on the certified list, two of them for the Supreme Court, and notes that three of the Court of Appeal questions could not be read cleanly from the certified list because the text broke across pages. This is the first retention question for Justice Lee, who was appointed in 2025, and the second for Justice Raphael, who was retained in 2022 with 61.6 percent of the vote. There was no primary for either question.^{S10S11S18S19S20S31}
• Division Two is the division of the Fourth District that does not hear appeals from Orange County. The district's own history page says Division Two was created by legislation passed in 1965, that it sat in the City of San Bernardino, that it took filings from Inyo, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, that appeals from Orange County were divided between the divisions and original proceedings were handled by Division Two, that Division Three was formed in 1982 and assumed jurisdiction of all cases from Orange County, and that Division Two moved from San Bernardino to its present location in Riverside in 1999. Ballotpedia's page on the Fourth District records the same division locations, with Division One in San Diego, Division Two in Riverside and Division Three in Santa Ana, and gives the district jurisdiction over Inyo, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties. LAist's guide makes the same point about how voters meet these questions, noting that California voters vote on justices by district and not by division, so a voter can be asked about a justice who would not sit on a case involving that voter. A Fullerton resident's Orange County appeal is heard in Division Three.^S7S17S21
• Published assessment material on these two questions is thin. Ballot Explained states that California has no official judicial performance evaluation commission and no statewide bar rating of retention candidates, that justices are barred from campaigning for themselves, and that there is almost no published assessment of any of the Court of Appeal retention questions. The Judicial Branch's retention page says supreme and appellate court justices generally do not actively campaign for retention, that the only promise they can make voters is to decide appeals impartially and according to the law, without fear or favor toward any individual or group, and that the official statewide voter pamphlet does not contain biographical sketches for court of appeal justices but refers voters to a website and a toll-free hotline for their biographies. The Judicial Branch publishes a profile for each of the two justices, and the Secretary of State's voter guide links to both. Justice Raphael's profile states that he has authored several dozen articles in legal publications, taught judicial education courses and spoken at legal education events; Justice Lee's profile records her judicial assignments, prosecutor service, education and bar and community activity. The Judicial Branch's retention page says only supreme court justices' biographies appear in the statewide pamphlet, which is why no candidate statement exists for either justice in this contest and the statement summary field is null for both. Reform California's Orange County guide gives a do-not-retain entry to both Division Two justices, as it does to most of the other Fourth District names it lists, and prints no reason for any individual judicial entry in the section retrieved. The California Judicial Voter Guide gives each justice a star rating and a one-word retention position and points to a source guide rather than to published reasoning, and Robyn Nordell's guide lists a retention position with an endorsement key and no reasoning.^{S10S12S13S25S26S27S28S29S31}
• Organizations and publications have taken positions on the two Division Two questions. The Los Angeles County Bar Association posted on October 2, 2026 that it strongly endorses retaining the incumbent justices on the ballot, that it encourages voters to support retention, and that voters should support a particular justice unless they believe the justice has demonstrated unfitness to continue serving; its list names Associate Justice Corey G. Lee and Associate Justice Michael J. Raphael. The Southern California Appellate News blog, written by an appellate lawyer, posted on September 25, 2026 urging voters to retain the justices on the ballot and stating that the justices up for retention in this cycle all have a demonstrated record of fitness and competence and that none have had disciplinary issues with the Commission on Judicial Performance; it names the 16 Second District justices and does not name the Division Two justices individually. Presiding Justice Tari L. Cody of the Second Appellate District, Division Six, published an opinion article in the Santa Barbara Independent on October 7, 2026 asking voters to retain all sitting appellate court justices on the ballot and stating that none of the appellate justices on the ballot have been disciplined by the Commission on Judicial Performance. UNITE HERE Local 11's 2026 California voter guide states that all of the judicial retention elections in its guide are yes, and names both Division Two justices. Reform California's voter guide for Orange County gives both Division Two justices a do-not-retain entry and prints no reasons. The California Judicial Voter Guide, published in a statewide version and in an Orange County version, gives each of the two justices three stars on its five-star scale and a yes position on retention, and its rating legend labels three stars as acceptable; the guide states that the ratings come from a source guide and that the guide identifies candidates aligned with conservative, Republican, Christian and libertarian values. Robyn Nordell's conservative voter guide lists both justices with a yes recommendation and no reasoning. The San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board published recommendations on October 10, 2026 for the two Supreme Court justices and for the justices it reviewed in the First and Sixth Districts and stated a yes recommendation for those it reviewed; it did not list the Fourth District.^{S22S23S24S25S26S27S28S29S30S32}

Candidates

Listed in ballot order. Candidates are described with the same sections and level of detail; no ranking or endorsement is implied.

Sources

1. Certified List of Candidates, November 3, 2026 General Election, including the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal headings and ballot questions (dated August 27, 2026) California Secretary of State Accessed 2026-10-17
2. List of Judicial Candidates with Headings and Ballot Questions, November 3, 2026 General Election (dated August 24, 2026) California Secretary of State Accessed 2026-10-17
3. Official Voter Information Guide, November 3, 2026 General Election, Courts of Appeal, Fourth District page listing the division justices and linking to judicial biographical information California Secretary of State Accessed 2026-10-17
4. Contests Qualified for the Ballot for the 2026 General Election, including the Judicial entry for Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, 4th Appellate District, Division 1-3 Orange County Registrar of Voters Accessed 2026-10-17
5. What's On the Ballot, November 3, 2026 General Election (PDF listing the Judicial contests on the county ballot) Orange County Registrar of Voters Accessed 2026-10-17
6. Justices, Fourth Appellate District, current roster by division with service dates Judicial Branch of California, Courts of Appeal Accessed 2026-10-17
7. About the 4th District, history of the district and of Division Two, which was created in 1965 and moved from San Bernardino to Riverside in 1999 Judicial Branch of California, Courts of Appeal Accessed 2026-10-17
8. What Appellate Court Justices Do Judicial Branch of California, Courts of Appeal Accessed 2026-10-17
9. How Appellate Court Justices are Selected Judicial Branch of California, Courts of Appeal Accessed 2026-10-17
10. Appellate Retention Elections, what they are and how voters learn about the justices Judicial Branch of California, Courts of Appeal Accessed 2026-10-17
11. What to Know About Judicial Selection, a primer on how appellate justices are nominated and become part of the voter process (October 5, 2026) California Courts Newsroom Accessed 2026-10-17
12. Profile of Corey G. Lee, Associate Justice, Division Two Judicial Branch of California, Courts of Appeal Accessed 2026-10-17
13. Profile of Michael J. Raphael, Associate Justice, Division Two Judicial Branch of California, Courts of Appeal Accessed 2026-10-17
14. Commission Confirms Three Appointments to Courts of Appeal, recording the November 17, 2025 confirmation of Judge Corey Lee as associate justice of the Fourth Appellate District, Division Two California Courts Newsroom Accessed 2026-10-17
15. Judge Corey Lee Appointed as Associate Justice of the Fourth Appellate District, Division Two (November 19, 2025) Fourth Appellate District, Courts of Appeal Accessed 2026-10-17
16. San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Nominated To California Courts Of Appeal; New Judicial Appointment Announced, recording the August 7, 2025 nomination of Judge Corey Lee to Division Two (August 8, 2025) Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino Accessed 2026-10-17
17. California Fourth District Court of Appeal, court profile with division locations, jurisdiction and judicial selection Ballotpedia Accessed 2026-10-17
18. California intermediate appellate court elections, 2026, retention election page with the candidate list by district and division and the note that 62 seats are up on November 3, 2026 Ballotpedia Accessed 2026-10-17
19. Corey Lee, candidate page with career history, the assumption-of-office and term-end dates and the 2026 retention entry Ballotpedia Accessed 2026-10-17
20. Michael J. Raphael, candidate page with career history, the certified 2022 retention result, the assumption-of-office and term-end dates and the 2026 retention entry Ballotpedia Accessed 2026-10-17
21. California Courts of Appeal for LA and OC: What you need to know, guide to the retention questions with the Fourth District justice list (published October 1, 2026, updated October 14, 2026) LAist Accessed 2026-10-17
22. California Supreme Court and Court of Appeal Justices Retention Election, including the association's position on retaining the incumbent justices and its list of the Fourth District justices (October 2, 2026) Los Angeles County Bar Association, LACBA News Accessed 2026-10-17
23. About the Retention Election for California Appellate Justices, opinion article by Presiding Justice Tari Cody of the Second Appellate District, Division Six, describing the appointment and retention process (October 7, 2026) Santa Barbara Independent Accessed 2026-10-17
24. Vote to confirm our Justices, post describing the 2026 appellate retention election and urging voters to retain the justices on the ballot (September 25, 2026) Southern California Appellate News Accessed 2026-10-17
25. Voter Guide, Orange County, with a retain or do not retain entry for each Court of Appeal justice, 2026 General Election Reform California Accessed 2026-10-17
26. California Judicial Races 2026, judicial voter guide with a star rating and a retention position for each justice, 2026 General Election California Judicial Voter Guide Accessed 2026-10-17
27. California Voter Guide, November 3, 2026 General Election, Judicial Races (PDF with the star rating legend and the rating and retention column for each justice) California Voter Guide Accessed 2026-10-17
28. Orange County Voter Guide, November 3, 2026 General Election, listing the star rating and retention position for each Court of Appeal justice on the county ballot California Judicial Voter Guide Accessed 2026-10-17
29. Conservative Judicial Recommendations, listing a retention position for each appellate justice, 2026 General Election (October 6, 2026) Robyn Nordell's Conservative Voter Guide Accessed 2026-10-17
30. 2026 California Voter Guide, with a retention position for every justice on the November 3, 2026 ballot (last updated October 16, 2026) UNITE HERE Local 11 Accessed 2026-10-17
31. California appellate court elections, 2026, guide page on the retention questions and the absence of performance evaluations and bar ratings Ballot Explained Accessed 2026-10-17
32. Yes or no? The Chronicle's endorsements for California Supreme Court and appeals courts, with the editorial board's recommendations for the justices it reviewed (October 10, 2026) San Francisco Chronicle Accessed 2026-10-17
33. California Supreme Court retention vote, November 2026, guide page recording a search of the Secretary of State's Cal-Access campaign finance data for committees supporting or opposing retention (published September 29, 2026) CityHallPass Accessed 2026-10-17
34. Decisions by Judge's Name, the commission's list of public decisions on judicial disciplinary cases since 1960 California Commission on Judicial Performance Accessed 2026-10-17