Leondra Reid Kruger (born July 28, 1976) is an American judge who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California.

Kruger was considered a potential nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States, following the announcement of Justice Stephen Breyer's intention to retire in 2022.

[16][13] She then returned to private practice for two years at Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr in Washington, D.C.[17] She was a visiting assistant professor in 2007 at the University of Chicago Law School.

[5] On her questionnaire for the high court position, Kruger acknowledged she had never before taken a deposition and that, “I have not tried any cases to verdict or judgment.”[21] Although she had no prior judicial experience, her selection was publicly praised by then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Obama's then-U.S.

[34][35] People v. Buza (2018) 4 Cal.5th 658, authored the majority opinion in a 4-3 decision applying United States Supreme Court precedent and declining to address a broader constitutional challenge to the 2004 California Proposition 69, which requires police to collect DNA samples from all persons who are arrested for felony offenses.

[42][43] After President Joe Biden made a campaign pledge to appoint the first African American woman to the United States Supreme Court, Kruger became the subject of speculation as a potential future nominee (Ketanji Brown Jackson was ultimately nominated to the seat).

While Justice Elena Kagan is also Jewish, Breyer sits in a seat historically assigned to a Jew for a large part of the past 100 years.

The seat was held by Benjamin Cardozo, Felix Frankfurter, Arthur Goldberg, Abe Fortas, and Breyer, but also was occupied from 1970 to 1994 by the Methodist Harry Blackmun.

[44][45] In February 2022, Kruger faced questions from the Biden administration regarding her interpretation of religious liberty, particularly in relation to her role in arguing the case Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at the Supreme Court in 2012.