Newsom's legal chief, never a judge, seeks 12-year justice term

When President Donald Trump federalized California National Guard troops after civil unrest erupted over immigration raids in Los Angeles in June 2025, David B. Sapp helped lead the state's legal challenge.

Sapp wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asking that the deployment be rescinded, calling it "unlawful" and "a serious breach of state sovereignty."

As Gov. Gavin Newsom's legal affairs secretary, Sapp worked with the attorney general's office on every phase of Newsom v. Trump (2025), from gathering evidence and briefing to trial preparation and appeals, he wrote in his application for a seat on the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento.

Sapp has never been a judge or argued in an appellate court and has tried four civil cases, all bench trials or writ proceedings. He was confirmed Aug. 19 and faces a Nov. 3 retention vote for a 12-year term beginning Jan. 4.

The National Guard litigation was "among the most consequential cases regarding the future of our democracy," Sapp wrote in his application.

A federal judge blocked the deployment, later found the troops' law enforcement work violated the Posse Comitatus Act and ordered the deployment to end. The 9th Circuit let the order stand and the deployment ended Dec. 31.

Sapp has described an appellate seat as "a welcome change of pace," a return to "the quieter, more deliberate work he enjoyed during his appellate clerkship -- sitting, thinking, writing, and helping to shape precedent," the State Bar's judicial evaluation commission wrote. The commission praised his "intellect and analytical ability, strong writing and communication skills" and "openness to all perspectives."

Kevin J. Minnick, who clerked alongside Sapp at the 9th Circuit, wrote in a letter supporting his confirmation that Sapp "was always first to his desk and last to leave" and "always volunteered to take on the hard cases."

A graduate of Stanford Law School, his earlier career was in civil rights litigation. At the ACLU of Southern California, where he rose from staff attorney to advocacy director, he was on the legal team in Valentini v. Shinseki (2013), a class action on behalf of homeless veterans with severe disabilities. It challenged the Department of Veterans Affairs' leasing of its West Los Angeles campus to private entities instead of housing veterans there. Sapp argued jurisdiction on the winning summary judgment motion. The VA agreed to plan supportive housing on the campus but later backslid, he wrote.

He was also counsel in Casey A. v. Gundry, which the ACLU said led to "the complete overhaul" of education and rehabilitation programs at Los Angeles County's largest juvenile detention center, and worked on Doe v. State of California, a challenge to school fees that the ACLU said led to legislation creating a statewide system to keep districts from charging illegal fees.

His advocacy against the State Board of Education brought him into contact with officials who recruited him "to help craft, rather than challenge, state education policy," the commission wrote. Gov. Jerry Brown named him the board's deputy policy director and assistant legal counsel in December 2015.

In Newsom's office, which he joined in 2019, Sapp worked on Legislature of the State of California v. Weber (2024), in which a unanimous state Supreme Court removed a tax-limiting initiative from the ballot as an unconstitutional revision of the state Constitution.

One of his career highlights, he wrote in his application, is building and leading the governor's 23-member Office of Legal Affairs. "I doubt I will ever work with a more talented and committed group of people again."