WASHINGTON, D.C. — Navraj Rai, a 32-year-old attorney, has been sworn in as the first Sikh judge pro tempore in California’s Kern County, marking a milestone for both the county’s court system and the local Sikh community.
Rai was sworn in last week as a judge pro tem to the Superior Court of California in Kern County, becoming the first Sikh to hold the position in the county’s history.
A judge pro tempore is a private attorney appointed by the court to hear specific cases, a role intended to ease heavy court calendars and help speed case resolutions. Rai is one of 23 attorneys currently serving in Kern County’s temporary judges program and is expected to begin his work in traffic court.
Reflecting on the ceremony, Rai said the broader significance of the moment became clear once he saw the courtroom filled with supporters. “At that moment when you see the courtroom kind of flooded, that’s when it hit me, like, OK, I think this moment is bigger than what I realized,” he said.
Rai said his primary focus will be maintaining public trust in the judicial system. “I think the thing that excites me the most is interacting with the community and kind of making sure that trust and established faith in the system maintains and stays that way,” he said.
Kern County currently has 39 judges and eight commissioners, with one judgeship vacant. The county continues to face staffing pressures, with a 2022 assessment by the Judicial Council finding that Kern County needed 11 additional judges to meet workload demands.
Bakersfield Vice Mayor Manpreet Kaur described Rai’s appointment as a proud moment for the Sikh community. Kaur, who attended middle school with Rai, recalled their shared roots.
“We attended Earl Warren Junior High School together, which, of course, another legend from our community that rose to the highest judicial position and power within our country,” Kaur said.
She said Rai’s swearing-in reflects the promise of opportunity for local families. “It’s a tremendous honor to see someone who grew up in our community here in Kern County and the city of Bakersfield now rise to some of the highest positions of leadership locally,” she said.
“And so the Sikh community is incredibly proud to see this next generation accomplishing exactly what you know everyone hopes The American Dream allows for local families to do,” she added.
Rai is the son of immigrant parents from India. He was born in Los Angeles before his family moved to Bakersfield, where he attended Stockdale High School. He later studied at the University of California, Davis, and earned his law degree in 2018 from the University of the Pacific.
He said his decision to pursue law was shaped by a childhood experience, when his parents lost their business. “It was at that point in time when my parents were giving me these foreclosure notices in the sixth grade and trying to ask me to decipher them, that I realized that I refused to allow this to happen to anybody else,” Rai said.
“And I think that that’s kind of what catapulted me into making sure that something like this doesn’t ever happen again,” he added.
Rai said the response to his appointment has come from far beyond Kern County. “The amount of support that I have received as a result of this has been overwhelming from other countries, other nations,” he said.
“Individuals are writing and sending messages and my phone is just blown up like entirely,” he added.
During the ceremony, Rai said he felt a strong sense of collective pride. “I was able to look into the audience and I could feel the immense sense of pride that the community had,” he said.
“And I think at that point in time, I finally felt like, okay, this moment is bigger than what I thought it was going to be, that this is more of a moment for the community than it is for me,” he added.
Rai said the appointment carries a broader message for the region. “I think that this sends a message to not just Sikhs in the community, not just to Punjabis in the community,” he said.
“But I think, to every person in Kern County, that this is the place to grow, and this is the place to thrive, and that nothing is impossible,” he added. (Source: IANS)
