Fall / Winter 2003 Newsletter

THE CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT Historical Society_ NEWSLETTER AUTUMN/W I NTER 2003 A Colleague's Fond Memories of California 1 Former staffers fondly Supreme Court Justice Marcus Kaufman re member their beloved Justice Kaufman. Invariably BY JOY CE KENNARD they talk about his thought fulness and hi s loyalty. Associate J ustice Marcus M. Kaufman was appointed Beverly Gong, his fo rmer to the Court by Governor George Deukrnejian in and my cu rrent secretary, 1987,following the retention election in 1986.)ustice has described how, after he Kaufman grew up in Los Angeles, obtained his bache h ad announced his retire lor's degree from UCLA and graduated first in his law men t fr om the state high school class at USC in 19 5 6. Afier clerking for then court in 1990, Marc lob Associate Justice Roger]. Traynor, Kaiifman entered l_ __,J bied his successor, Justice private practice. In 1970, he was appointed to the Armand Arabian, to retain Marc's staff attorneys. Fourth District Court of Appeal in San Bernardino, When Justice Arabian said he would, Marc walked where he served until being named to the state's highest into Beverly's office and called his wife to tell her the court. Justice Kaufman retired from th e Supreme good news. Beverly recalled that there we re tears of Co urt in 1990 and returned to private practice in relief on his face. Southern California. A couple of weeks earlier, Marc had lobbied me to They say that true death is to be eternally fo rgot fill a vacant chief-of-staff position with one of his staff ten. Never to be forgotten will be Califo rnia Supreme attorneys, T erry Mead. I'm glad I li stened to Marc. Court Justice Marcus Kaufman, who died on March 26, Bringing T erry on my staff, and later Beverly, were 2003, at the age of 73 after a long illness. His fa mily among the best decisions I have made in my career. and many fri ends will forever keep alive the cherished I was devastated by the news of Marc's retirement. memories of this brilliant jurist and wonderful man. His brilliance as a jurist, his pursuit of excellence, his I first met Justice Marcus Kaufman in April 1989, independence, and his devotion to duty had added lus when I became his colleague on the Califo rnia ter to the state's highest court. But I knew how much S upreme Court, to which Governor George he and his wife Eileen missed Southern California, Deukmejian had appointed him in 1987. where their children and grandchildren lived. I knew I still remember that balmy April day in San how much his fam ily mattered to Marc. Francisco when Marc came by my chambers to wel After Marc's retirement, my December holiday come me to the court. I already knew of his fo rmidable cards to him and Eileen invariably would have this intellect, and I had heard of his occasional sternness on postscript: "Marc, I still miss yo u." Today, I would add: the bench when his booming voice would in no uncer "I always will." tain terms express hi s utter disappointment with an This past January, I had the pleasure of hav ing attorney's inability to respond to a critical question. Marc's grandson, Evan G ranowitz, a law student at UC Based on these impress ions, I expected Marc to be a Berkeley's Boalt H all , jo in my staff as an intern. gruff and imposing fi gure. When I met him, he indeed Shortly after Evan came on board, I called Marc and looked imposing and distinguished. But readily appar Eileen to tell them how im pressed my attorneys and I ent were his warmth, his kindness and, yes, his ge ntle were with Evan's high intelligence, his dedication to ness. I immediately lost a chunk of my heart to him. the job at hand, his thoughtfulness, and his capacity My ad mi ration and affection for Marc never wavered for hard work, the same qualities so ev ident in his during our tenure on the court. grandfather. l recall Co11tin11ed 011 page 12 NEW S L E TT ER· AUT U M N/ W l NTEH 2003 Living Through It The Fruits ef Generosity BY KENT L . R I C HLAND BY DONNA SC H U ELE "History never looks like history when yo u are living I didn't approach the dessert bar at the Anaheim through it. JI J 0 H N w. GARDNER ( I 9 I 4 - ) Hilton's restaurant during the 2003 State Bar Annual My membership in th e Califo rnia Supreme Court Meeting with the idea of increasing the Society's mem Historical Society has exposed me to some colorful and bership support, but it was a sweet result nonetheless. complex historical characters who served as justices of This story actually begins with the contributions the California Supreme Court. For example, one of our that the California Supreme Court Historical Society court's first justices was David Terry, who packed both received in 2003 from about 9,000 generous attorneys a pistol and a Bowie knife while on the bench, was who donated via their State Bar fee statements. The captured by vigilantes in San Francisco, shot and killed Board of Directors voted at its Spring 2003 meeting to United States Senator David Broderick, and lost his create a new category of membership at the Associate own life in a confrontation with the body guards of level, to include the vast majority who gave the sug California and then United S tates Supreme Court gested amount of $25. Justice Stephen Field. Associate members would receive an electronic And there was the brilliant early 20th century version of the CSCHS Newsletter (upon the Society's Justice Frederick Henshaw, a scandal magnet who at receipt of their e-mail address), along with an invita various times was accused of: conspiring to frame a tion to Society events held at the State Bar Annual member of the IWW labor union with the infamous Meeting. They would also be offered the opportunity 1916 Preparedness Day Parade bombing; deliberately to upgrade their membership to the Judicial level ($50- casting an invalid vote on a petition for review of the 99) or above in order to receive additional benefits, criminal conviction of San Francisco's powerful politi including Ben Fi eld's jurisprudential biography of cal boss Abe Ruef; and accepting a $410,000 bribe in Chief Justice Roger Traynor. exchange fo r altering his vote on rehearing of a suit After we welcomed our new Associate members contesting the will of Senator James Fair. into the Society, quite a few chose to upgrade, includ By comparison, things certainly seem dull today. I ing the attorney that I met at the Hilton. I'll bet that have long suspected, however, that the present is just he also didn't approach the dessert bar intending to as chock full of fantastic figures as the past, and that write a check on the spot, but there you have it! our romanticization of earlier times is a function of an The revitalization of the Society has even encour inescapable lack of perspective. We're simply too close aged our long-time members to increase their support, to current events to see the remarkable things taking and we have been gratified to hear from onetime mem place before our eyes. bers seeking to reestablish their ties to the Society. A ll It turns out I'm old enough now to put this hypoth of this activity has served to make the CSCHS the esis to a test. The other day I realized I've been practic largest court-based historical society in the country, and ing before the California Supreme Court fo r 30 years. we have you, our members, to thank for that distinction. So I pulled a 1973 volume of California Reports to see But the real significa nce of our increase in mem who was on the Court at that time- and from the per bership rests in our ability to expand the programs spective of 30 years that Court had more than its fa ir underwritten with Society funds. That a number of share of remarkable characters. these projects were previously supported with public The Chief Justice was Donald Wright. Chief Justice resources no longer available renders our members' Wright had one of the toughest judicial acts to fo llow generosity all the more crucial. In this newsletter issue, in history-Chief Justice Roger T raynor. A crusty we begin a series of articles highlighting these projects. appointee of Governor Reagan, C hief Justice Wright With seed money from the Society, The Bancroft shocked the world (and no one more than the governor Library's Regional Oral History Office is preparing to who appointed him) when he authored the majority conduct an oral interview of former Supreme Court opinion in People v. A nderson (1 972) 6 Cal.3d 628, Justice Joseph Grodin. Inte rvie we r a nd editor holding that the death penalty was inconsistent with Germaine LaBerge provides us with insight into the contemporary standards of civilized society and there oral history process and details the various memoirs of fo re violated the Califo rnia Constitution's "cruel or Supreme Court Justices that have been completed over unusual punishment" clause. It took a constitutional the past 40 years and are now available to researchers.

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