Johnny Cepeda Gogo

Johnny Cepeda Gogo is a California Superior Court Judge in Santa Clara County (San Jose) and is part of the Court’s Community Outreach Program. He previously served as a prosecutor in Santa Clara County and Guam. His father was in the military and so the family has lived in Germany, Japan, Guam, California, Alaska and Kentucky. Judge Gogo attended Sacramento City College, Riverside City College, graduated from U.C. San Diego with a BA in Political Science and then obtained his JD from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.

Updated May 2021

Stories from This Author

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The 48-Star American Flags travel to Heart Mountain, Topaz, and Honolulu

Oct. 26, 2021 • Johnny Cepeda Gogo

On July 5, 2021, I flew down early in the morning from San Jose for a flag signing event at the Gardena Valley JCI1 in Los Angeles. It was a beautiful day and we had a fantastic turnout. Approximately 70 folks came out to sign the flag. Some of the folks who came out were Louise Momita (Poston); David Miyoshi (Manzanar), a veteran of the Marine Corps who would later serve in Vietnam a later become a lawyer in 1973 …

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The Journey of the Flag Signing Project Continues

July 23, 2021 • Johnny Cepeda Gogo

Since my last article in May, I have continued my journey to have Japanese American survivors of the World War II incarceration camps sign a 48-Star American flag (read it here). I wanted to provide an update on the flag signings which included visits across northern, southern, and central California. On May 28, 2021, I flew from San Jose’s Norman Y. Mineta International Airport down to Los Angeles to meet with retired California Court of Appeal Justice Kathryn Doi Todd so that she could …

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48-Star American Flag Signing Project

May 27, 2021 • Johnny Cepeda Gogo

When Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Roberta Hayashi was appointed to the bench in 2014, she joined the Court’s Community Outreach Committee and helped to highlight Fred Korematsu Day events and education in our community. Judge Hayashi’s outreach efforts lead me (at that time a Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney) to be more involved in Korematsu Day events/education, including an introduction with Civil Rights attorney Dale Minami, and was one of the inspirations for this flag signing project. …

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