It was a day of firsts for the Commission on Judicial Appointments Thursday as its three-member panels unanimously confirmed two justices to California’s appellate courts.

After a brief hearing, Orange County Superior Court Judge Maurice Sanchez was sworn in as an associate justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s Santa Ana division. Sanchez, an Orange County native who was born at a hospital just a mile away from the Fourth District courthouse, will be the first person of color to serve on the appellate court’s Division 3.