Good News Of The Day: California Governor Announces India-Born Attorney Sweena Pannu As Superior Court Judge

An Indian-American attorney is among 27 new superior court judges named by the California Governor Gavin Newsom.

In rather good news, an Indian-American attorney, Sweena Pannu, has been named among 27 new superior court judge appointees announced by California Governor Gavin Newsom. Pannu, a Democrat, will serve as a Judge in the Stanislaus County Superior Court, thereby filling the vacancy created after Judge Thomas D. Zeff returned and left the post.

As per a press release from the Governor's office, the compensation for each of these 27 positions is $231,174.

All about Sweena Pannu

Nonetheless, previously, Pannu was the Deputy County Counsel in the Stanislaus County Counsel's Office since 2020. Between 2006-2020, she served as a Deputy Public Defender at the Stanislaus County Public Defender's Office. From 1996 to 2004, she also served as an attorney at ML SARIN, and then earned a Master of Laws degree from the University of Aberdeen School of Law. She had earlier completed her graduation from Punjab University.

Meanwhile, another Indian American who recently made a mark in the US is attorney and educator Neil Makhija, who won the Democratic nomination for Montgomery County Commissioner. He is now closer to becoming the first Asian-American to hold the top post in Pennsylvania state.

Makhija joined the primary election for Commissioner of Montgomery County recently. For the unversed, Montgomery County has one of the largest Asian-American populations in Pennsylvania.

Makhija belongs to a Sindhi family from India, and will now be competing in the November general election to see if he controls the three-member Board of Commissioners in Pennsylvania's third largest county, which has over 865,000 people.

If elected, the 36-year-old election law professor at the University of Pennsylvania will be the first South Asian member to serve for the vacancy left open by outgoing commissioner Valerie Arkoosh.