Cruz Reynoso
Encyclopedia
Cruz Reynoso is a civil rights
lawyer, professor emeritus of law, and the first Chicano
Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1982–87). He also served on the California Third District Court of Appeal. In 1986, along with two other liberal members of the California Supreme Court—Chief Justice Rose Bird
and Associate Justice Joseph Grodin
—Reynoso became one of only three State Supreme Court justices ever recalled and ousted by voters under California's judicial-retention election system. He served as vice-chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1993 to 2004.
In 2000, Reynoso received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
, the United States' highest civilian honor, for his efforts to address social inequities and his public service.
. He grew up as one of 11 children, and from age eight worked as an agricultural worker in orange groves. His father was a farmworker
.
When Reynoso was seven, the family moved to a barrio
outside of La Habra, California
. While there, he attended the Wilson Grammar School, a racially-segregated grade school for children of Mexican descent. His junior high school was integrated, as was Fullerton High School
, from which he graduated.
The United States Postal Service
refused to provide Rural Free Delivery service within the barrio, even though non-minority families living nearby received the service. Reynoso circulated a petition demanding service; the Postal Service responded to his petition and began providing mail delivery to the barrio. He also challenged the local school board about the Wilson School, after which the school was desegregated.
After high school, Reynoso attended Fullerton College
, a community college, receiving an associate of arts degree in 1951. A dean from Pomona College
offered him a scholarship if he applied and was admitted to that school. He received his Bachelor of Arts
degree from Pomona College in 1953, after which he joined the U.S. Army
, serving in the Counterintelligence Corps for two years. He was stationed in Washington, D.C.
, where his assignments included reviewing the House Un-American Activities Committee
files on potential applicants for Federal jobs, a task he found distasteful. He received his Bachelor of Laws
degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 1958. Under a Ford Foundation
fellowship, he studied constitutional law at the National University of Mexico in 1958–59.
. He served as a legislative assistant in the California State Senate
(1959–60. He was an Associate General Counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
in 1967 and 1968.
He then served as deputy director of California Rural Legal Assistance
in 1968. Shortly thereafter, internal problems at CRLA lead to his assuming the directorship; he was the first Latino to hold the position. His work with CRLA gained him national recognition. Reynoso recalls that, during his tenure, CRLA was "mentioned not infrequently as being the leading legal services program in the country." Then-Governor Ronald Reagan
attempted to cut state funding for the CRLA during Reynoso's tenure, but the agency successfully resisted the challenge.
He was a professor of law at the University of New Mexico School of Law
from 1972 to 1976.
as an associate justice. He was the first Latino appointed to the Court. In 1981, he was appointed to the California Supreme Court by outgoing Governor Jerry Brown
, succeeding the retiring Mathew O. Tobriner. George Deukmejian
, then the attorney general and on the commission on judicial appointments, voted against Reynoso's confirmation.
In 1982, Reynoso was up for reconfirmation: under a measure adopted in 1934, California voters confirm a governor's appointments, and periodic unopposed elections are held for each justice during general elections, giving voters the opportunity to vote a justice out of office. Deukmejian, running as a Republican
candidate for governor, urged voters to vote against justices Otto Kaus
, Allen Broussard
, and Reynoso; he hoped to replace them with conservative appointees, creating a new majority on the Court. The Californians for Judicial Reform campaign to unseat the justices cited Reynoso's stance joining Richardson's majority opinion upholding the constitutionality of Proposition 8
, the "Victim's Bill of Rights", as among the reasons the justices were "soft on crime". The campaign labelled Kaus, Broussard, and Reynoso "Jerry's Judges". All three justices were retained; Reynoso received the lowest margin of victory, receiving the vote of only 52 percent of voters. A 1988 academic study of this election suggested that, although the retention election was theoretically nonpartisan and intended to retain justices based on their merit, partisan information (such as the affiliation of the governor who appointed the justice) is used by voters to structure their decisions in such elections.
Also during the 1980s, Reynoso was a member of the Congressional Select Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Policy. He was appointed by President Jimmy Carter
.
As part of the court led by Chief Justice Rose Bird
, Reynoso was part of the liberal majority. With that majority, he extended environmental protections, individual liberties, and civil rights.
When a case came before the Supreme Court regarding whether or not due process required that a non-English-speaking person charged with a crime be provided with an interpreter, Reynoso drew upon his experiences representing such clients to persuade a majority of his fellow justices that "basic fairness on the constitutional sense require that there be an interpreter for that individual".
, and Reynoso were targeted by conservative and victims-rights groups. The 1986 campaign again portrayed the targeted justices as "soft on crime", but this time focused on the court's handling of the state's death penalty
law. Reynoso believes Governor Deukmejian's decision to oppose him, Bird, and Grodin was the most important factor in that election. Deukmejian said that the justices' decisions on death-penalty cases demonstrated a "lack of impartiality and objectivity". Reynoso's advisors told him that it would take three campaign ads to counteract one ad by his opponents; he and the other justices lacked the funds to compete with the campaign, raising a collective $3 million to the opposition's $7 million. Deukmejian told Grodin and Reynoso that he would oppose their retention unless they voted to uphold more death sentences.
The campaign highlighted that the Bird court had overturned 59 consecutive death-penalty cases during Bird's nine-year tenure. Reynoso, who had voted to uphold the state's death-penalty law, voted only once for a death sentence during his seven years on the court. The Oxnard Press-Courier said in an editorial that Reynoso was Bird's "most consistent ally" and that "he has been second only to the chief justice in supporting decisions that favor criminal defendants over prosecutors". The California District Attorneys Association issued a 78-page report attacking the three justices, mainly over their death-penalty rulings, but dropped their campaign later because of fears a political campaign could affect the group's tax-exempt status.
"There's clearly an effort to politicize the court", Reynoso told United Press International during the campaign. He was endorsed by the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs. According to California attorney general John Van de Kamp, the court refused to hear appeals of, or affirmed, 97 percent of convictions in the 1984/85 fiscal year; Reynoso remarked, "That doesn't sound at all like a 'soft on crime' record". Defending his death-penalty votes, he said that "most, but not all" of the reversals stemmed from the 1978 Briggs Amendment, which "does not comport with US Supreme Court law".
The campaign to remove the justices succeeded; voters rejected new terms for Bird, Grodin, and Reynoso. Reynoso was rejected by 60 percent of voters. This made Deukmejian the first governor in California history to have the opportunity to appoint three justices to the court at once. The justices left the bench when the court's term ended on January 5, 1986.
Afterward, Donald Heller, a former Federal prosecutor who drafted the 1978 death-penalty initiative approved by California voters, disagreed with the campaign to unseat the justices, calling Reynoso "a thoughtful, decent man who got thrown out" and "a very capable judge who tried to do the right thing in cases." Reynoso said of the result, "you can't blame [the voters] when the governor of the state, who is a lawyer, says the justices aren't following the law. If I didn't know better, I would have voted against me, too."
remarked "You cannot forget the fact that you have a crocodile in your bathtub", referring to the act of making a judicial decision without regard to the potential political consequences. "You know it's there, and you try not to think about it, but it's hard to think about much else while you're shaving." "You keep wondering whether you're letting yourself be influenced, and you do not know. You do not know yourself that well," he wrote. "You worry about it in two different ways," wrote Reynoso; "First you worry it might influence you improperly. Then you worry because you're concerned you might overcompensate, and not pay enough attention to arguments that are perfectly legitimate."
Erwin Chemerinsky
, a law professor from the University of Southern California
, agreed with the ousted Justice Grodin, saying "the legacy of 1986 could be that justices facing retention elections will decide cases with an eye, perhaps subconsciously, on how their rulings will affect their chances at the polls." Chemerinsky called for abolishing judicial-review elections. He wrote, "Largely due to defects in a poorly worded death penalty law, the court had a strikingly one-sided pattern of decisions on the issue", noting that this, Bird's controversial history, the trio's appointments by an unpopular governor, and the realization by their opponents that the court's ideology could be completely changed if the campaign succeeded lead to the opposition campaign. Jazon Czarnezki, assistant professor of law at Marquette University
, attributed Bird's defeat to "her resolute opposition to the death penalty and overturning a series of death sentences". Exit polls indicated that the death-penalty issue was the major reason why voters refused to retain the justices.
The justices were also impacted by a lack of support from Democratic legislative incumbents in safe districts.
Despite the fact that California Supreme Court justices undergoing a retention election are running uncontested, the median spending for justices' campaigns rose from $3,177 in 1976 to $70,000 in 1994.
Campaigns similar to the one expelling Bird, Grodin, and Reynoso have since been mounted against judges in other states, such as Justice Penny J. White
of Tennessee
, who also lost a retention election due to a death-penalty issue. Retired California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George
advocated eliminating retention elections and appointing justices to single 15-year terms, following an election in Iowa
where three justices were removed from office after that state's high court overturned a ban on same-sex marriage
. The campaign was largely funded by out-of-state organizations; George said that the January 2010 United States Supreme Court ruling allowing corporations and unions to contribute unlimited sums to independent political committees
was likely to increase the influence of well-funded groups in nonpartisan judicial retention elections like those in Iowa and California.
He has worked for the New York
–based firm of Kay, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler, out of their Sacramento office, where he was a special counsel. He worked on complex civil litigation, as an expert witness on legal ethics, and as a mediator. His agreement with the firm allowed him to spend up to 40 percent of his time on pro bono
work.
In 1991, he joined the faculty of the UCLA School of Law
, where he taught until 2001. He was a faculty adviser for the Chicano-Latino Law Review. In 1995, UCLA law students selected him as Professor of the Year.
The United States Senate appointed Reynoso to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in April 1993. He was appointed the vice-chairman of the Commission by President Bill Clinton
on November 19, 1993. During his tenure, he accused California Governor Pete Wilson
of generating anti-immigrant sentiments to gain popularity. When the Commission harshly criticized Florida's handling of the presidential election of 2000
, Reynoso said "the greatest sin" was the number of people who weren't allowed to vote. He was among the commissioners that looked into complaints that some eligible voters were denied the right to vote, or that votes were improperly counted, in Florida. Reynoso, along with Commission chairwoman Mary Frances Berry
, resigned his commission on December 7, 2004, after President George W. Bush
's White House staff announced that their six-year terms had expired on December 5 and announced replacements for them. Berry and Renoso maintained that their commissions were not due to expire until midnight on January 21, 2005, but said in their resignation letters that it wasn't worth the fight. The move to replace them occurred after the Commission released a draft of a report criticizing Bush's civil rights record.
On July 1, 2001, Reynoso joined the faculty at the University of California, Davis, School of Law
as the first Boochever & Bird Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality. The chair, established with a gift from UC Davis alumni Charles Bird, is named in honor of Judge Robert Boochever
and Bird's parents, and is awarded in recognition of outstanding scholarship, teaching, and commitment to preserving and expanding the understanding of "the virtues necessary of a great republic." He retired in December 2006, becoming a professor emeritus.
In 2009, Reynoso spoke with UC Davis law students, noting that he has retired a few times, but was then chairing a citizens' commission investigating the death of Luis Gutierrez, a farm worker shot by police in Yolo County
.
President-elect Barack Obama
appointed Reynoso to his White House transition team in early 2009, as part of a justice and civil rights sub-team.
Following a June 10, 2010 Washington, DC screening of Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice, the Abby Ginzberg
documentary film, he was injured in a car accident in Virginia
, along with his wife Elaine and grandson. Reynoso suffered a broken collarbone, a punctured lung, and other injuries when a Hummer
struck their rental car at an intersection, hospitalizing him for nine days. His wife suffered "grave injuries" to her brain and internal organs, requiring multiple surgeries. Both were placed into medically-induced comas
; Elaine remained in a coma after the inducement was stopped. Reynoso was initially cited for pulling out into the path of the Hummer, which had the right of way, but a judge dismissed the case. Elaine Reynoso resigned from her position as a trustee of Sierra College
in June 2011 to focus on recovering from her injuries; she has required extensive physical rehabilitation.
After the accident, Reynoso said he has re-evaluated his priorities, and will focus on completing his memoirs and legal articles, as well as resuming work on the Yolo citizens' commission probe. The commission's work was put on hold while the Reynosos recuperated.
Reynoso has served on the boards of directors
of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
, the Natural Resources Defense Council
, and Children Now. He co-founded the Latino Issues Forum with Bob Genasda, and was Chairman of its board of directors. He is a trustee of the Garment Workers Trust Fund.
, the United States's highest civilian honor. The medal's citation said "Through his efforts to address social inequity in his rural community, his leadership of the pioneering California Rural Legal Assistance program, his tenure as the first Latino on the California Supreme Court and his service on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, he has been a strong force for change and a passionate voice for our nation's disadvantaged".
Reynoso received the Hispanic Heritage Award
in Education on September 7, 2000, during a nationally-televised presentation at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In 2003, UC Davis law students organized the La Raza
Law Students Association; donors established the Cruz Reynoso Social Justice Fellowship. The fellowship helps Latino law students attending Berkeley Law afford the opportunity to work as judicial externs or in social justice during the summer break.
He was honored with the University of California Davis Medal of Honor at a lifetime achievement event on September 15, 2007, at the Mondavi Center
. The medal is the highest honor bestowed by the university. At the event, UC Davis announced the Cruz and Jeannene Reynoso Scholarship for Legal Access, which helps first-year students with financial needs.
Documentary filmmaker Abby Ginzberg
produced the film Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice. It was funded in 2009 in part by the California Documentary Project of the California Council for the Humanities. The film was screened at film festivals and other institutions in the United States, Cuba
, and Uruguay
. Ginzberg says she chose to make the film because "I was involved in the effort to save the justices in 1986, and I have always wanted to take a second look at why the campaign to recall them was so successful." It was first screened on March 16, 2010 at the Chicano Resource Center of the East Los Angeles Library. The film was a Gold Winner of the 2010 Davey Awards in the Film/Video/TV category. It also received the Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary at the Sacramento Film and Music Festival
.
The City of Chicago
passed a resolution honoring Reynoso that was presented to him while he was a visiting distinguished scholar at the John Marshall Law School
in 2009.
The State Bar of California
gave Reynoso its Bernard E. Witkin
Medal in September 2009 for his "significant contributions to the quality of justice and legal scholarship" in California, recognizing him as a "legal giant".
In April 2011, the University of California, Merced
awarded Reynoso the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance. The prize honors people who exemplify the delivery of social justice, diplomacy, and tolerance in their work. The prize included a $10,000 award.
Chapman University
conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree upon him in May 2011.
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
lawyer, professor emeritus of law, and the first Chicano
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1982–87). He also served on the California Third District Court of Appeal. In 1986, along with two other liberal members of the California Supreme Court—Chief Justice Rose Bird
Rose Bird
Rose Elizabeth Bird served for 10 years as the 25th Chief Justice of California. She was the first female Justice, and first female Chief Justice, on that court, appointed by then Governor Jerry Brown...
and Associate Justice Joseph Grodin
Joseph Grodin
Joseph R. Grodin is a lawyer and former appellate and Supreme Court judge in the state of California.-Biography:Grodin is a graduate from the University of California in Berkeley and from Yale University...
—Reynoso became one of only three State Supreme Court justices ever recalled and ousted by voters under California's judicial-retention election system. He served as vice-chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1993 to 2004.
In 2000, Reynoso received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
, the United States' highest civilian honor, for his efforts to address social inequities and his public service.
Early life and education
Reynoso was born in Brea, CaliforniaBrea, California
Brea is a city in Orange County, California. The population, as of the 2010 Census was 39,282.The city began as a center of crude oil production, was later propelled by citrus production, and is now an important retail center because of the large Brea Mall and the recently redeveloped Brea Downtown...
. He grew up as one of 11 children, and from age eight worked as an agricultural worker in orange groves. His father was a farmworker
Farmworker
A farmworker is a person hired to work in the agricultural industry. This includes work on farms of all sizes, from small, family-run businesses to large industrial agriculture operations...
.
When Reynoso was seven, the family moved to a barrio
Barrio
Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...
outside of La Habra, California
La Habra, California
La Habra is a city in the northwestern corner of Orange County, California. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,239. Its related city, La Habra Heights is located to the north of La Habra, and is in Los Angeles County.-Origin of name:...
. While there, he attended the Wilson Grammar School, a racially-segregated grade school for children of Mexican descent. His junior high school was integrated, as was Fullerton High School
Fullerton High School, California
Fullerton Union High School is a public high school located in the Orange County, California city of Fullerton, United States operated by the Fullerton Joint Union High School District.-History:...
, from which he graduated.
The United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
refused to provide Rural Free Delivery service within the barrio, even though non-minority families living nearby received the service. Reynoso circulated a petition demanding service; the Postal Service responded to his petition and began providing mail delivery to the barrio. He also challenged the local school board about the Wilson School, after which the school was desegregated.
After high school, Reynoso attended Fullerton College
Fullerton College
Fullerton College is the oldest community college in continuous operation in California, having been established in 1913. Current enrollment is 22,014.- History 1913 to 1972 :...
, a community college, receiving an associate of arts degree in 1951. A dean from Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
offered him a scholarship if he applied and was admitted to that school. He received his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from Pomona College in 1953, after which he joined the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, serving in the Counterintelligence Corps for two years. He was stationed in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where his assignments included reviewing the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
files on potential applicants for Federal jobs, a task he found distasteful. He received his Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 1958. Under a Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
fellowship, he studied constitutional law at the National University of Mexico in 1958–59.
Legal career
Reynoso began his career in private law practice in El Centro, CaliforniaEl Centro, California
El Centro is a city in and county seat of Imperial County, the largest city in the Imperial Valley and the east anchor of the Southern California Border Region, and the core urban area and principal city of the El Centro metropolitan area which encompasses all of Imperial County. El Centro is also...
. He served as a legislative assistant in the California State Senate
California State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 state senators. The state legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...
(1959–60. He was an Associate General Counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is an independent federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, perceived intelligence,...
in 1967 and 1968.
He then served as deputy director of California Rural Legal Assistance
California Rural Legal Assistance
California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. is a 501 non-profit legal and political advocacy group that promotes the interests of migrant laborers and the rural poor. The organization provides legal assistance in the areas of housing and eviction, public benefits, and educational access...
in 1968. Shortly thereafter, internal problems at CRLA lead to his assuming the directorship; he was the first Latino to hold the position. His work with CRLA gained him national recognition. Reynoso recalls that, during his tenure, CRLA was "mentioned not infrequently as being the leading legal services program in the country." Then-Governor Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
attempted to cut state funding for the CRLA during Reynoso's tenure, but the agency successfully resisted the challenge.
He was a professor of law at the University of New Mexico School of Law
University of New Mexico School of Law
The University of New Mexico School of Law is the law school of the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque. It is the only law school in the state of New Mexico. Approximately 350 students attend the school, with approximately 115 enrolled in the first-year class...
from 1972 to 1976.
Judiciary career
In 1976, Reynoso was appointed to the California Court of AppealCalifornia Court of Appeal
The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided into six appellate districts...
as an associate justice. He was the first Latino appointed to the Court. In 1981, he was appointed to the California Supreme Court by outgoing Governor Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
, succeeding the retiring Mathew O. Tobriner. George Deukmejian
George Deukmejian
Courken George Deukmejian, Jr. born June 6, 1928) is an Armenian American politician from California who as a Republican served as the 35th Governor of California and as California Attorney General .-Early life:...
, then the attorney general and on the commission on judicial appointments, voted against Reynoso's confirmation.
In 1982, Reynoso was up for reconfirmation: under a measure adopted in 1934, California voters confirm a governor's appointments, and periodic unopposed elections are held for each justice during general elections, giving voters the opportunity to vote a justice out of office. Deukmejian, running as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
candidate for governor, urged voters to vote against justices Otto Kaus
Otto Kaus
Otto M. Kaus was a former judge from the State of California. He was born in Vienna, Austria. He was already attending school in Great Britain when the rest of his family fled the Nazis in the 1930s. Immigrating to the United States, his family settled in Los Angeles, California...
, Allen Broussard
Allen Broussard
Allen Broussard was an African-American judge who rose to become a justice of the California Supreme Court.He was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana on April 13, 1929, the son of Clemire and Eugenia Broussard. At the age of 16, he moved with his family to California...
, and Reynoso; he hoped to replace them with conservative appointees, creating a new majority on the Court. The Californians for Judicial Reform campaign to unseat the justices cited Reynoso's stance joining Richardson's majority opinion upholding the constitutionality of Proposition 8
California Proposition 8 (1982)
Proposition 8 was a law enacted by California voters on 8 June 1982, by means of the initiative process. The law restricted the rights of convicts, and those suspected of crimes, and extended the rights of victims...
, the "Victim's Bill of Rights", as among the reasons the justices were "soft on crime". The campaign labelled Kaus, Broussard, and Reynoso "Jerry's Judges". All three justices were retained; Reynoso received the lowest margin of victory, receiving the vote of only 52 percent of voters. A 1988 academic study of this election suggested that, although the retention election was theoretically nonpartisan and intended to retain justices based on their merit, partisan information (such as the affiliation of the governor who appointed the justice) is used by voters to structure their decisions in such elections.
Also during the 1980s, Reynoso was a member of the Congressional Select Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Policy. He was appointed by President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
.
As part of the court led by Chief Justice Rose Bird
Rose Bird
Rose Elizabeth Bird served for 10 years as the 25th Chief Justice of California. She was the first female Justice, and first female Chief Justice, on that court, appointed by then Governor Jerry Brown...
, Reynoso was part of the liberal majority. With that majority, he extended environmental protections, individual liberties, and civil rights.
When a case came before the Supreme Court regarding whether or not due process required that a non-English-speaking person charged with a crime be provided with an interpreter, Reynoso drew upon his experiences representing such clients to persuade a majority of his fellow justices that "basic fairness on the constitutional sense require that there be an interpreter for that individual".
Ouster from the Supreme Court
During the next retention vote in 1986, Bird, Joseph GrodinJoseph Grodin
Joseph R. Grodin is a lawyer and former appellate and Supreme Court judge in the state of California.-Biography:Grodin is a graduate from the University of California in Berkeley and from Yale University...
, and Reynoso were targeted by conservative and victims-rights groups. The 1986 campaign again portrayed the targeted justices as "soft on crime", but this time focused on the court's handling of the state's death penalty
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
law. Reynoso believes Governor Deukmejian's decision to oppose him, Bird, and Grodin was the most important factor in that election. Deukmejian said that the justices' decisions on death-penalty cases demonstrated a "lack of impartiality and objectivity". Reynoso's advisors told him that it would take three campaign ads to counteract one ad by his opponents; he and the other justices lacked the funds to compete with the campaign, raising a collective $3 million to the opposition's $7 million. Deukmejian told Grodin and Reynoso that he would oppose their retention unless they voted to uphold more death sentences.
The campaign highlighted that the Bird court had overturned 59 consecutive death-penalty cases during Bird's nine-year tenure. Reynoso, who had voted to uphold the state's death-penalty law, voted only once for a death sentence during his seven years on the court. The Oxnard Press-Courier said in an editorial that Reynoso was Bird's "most consistent ally" and that "he has been second only to the chief justice in supporting decisions that favor criminal defendants over prosecutors". The California District Attorneys Association issued a 78-page report attacking the three justices, mainly over their death-penalty rulings, but dropped their campaign later because of fears a political campaign could affect the group's tax-exempt status.
"There's clearly an effort to politicize the court", Reynoso told United Press International during the campaign. He was endorsed by the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs. According to California attorney general John Van de Kamp, the court refused to hear appeals of, or affirmed, 97 percent of convictions in the 1984/85 fiscal year; Reynoso remarked, "That doesn't sound at all like a 'soft on crime' record". Defending his death-penalty votes, he said that "most, but not all" of the reversals stemmed from the 1978 Briggs Amendment, which "does not comport with US Supreme Court law".
The campaign to remove the justices succeeded; voters rejected new terms for Bird, Grodin, and Reynoso. Reynoso was rejected by 60 percent of voters. This made Deukmejian the first governor in California history to have the opportunity to appoint three justices to the court at once. The justices left the bench when the court's term ended on January 5, 1986.
Afterward, Donald Heller, a former Federal prosecutor who drafted the 1978 death-penalty initiative approved by California voters, disagreed with the campaign to unseat the justices, calling Reynoso "a thoughtful, decent man who got thrown out" and "a very capable judge who tried to do the right thing in cases." Reynoso said of the result, "you can't blame [the voters] when the governor of the state, who is a lawyer, says the justices aren't following the law. If I didn't know better, I would have voted against me, too."
Impact of the ouster campaign
The 1986 California Supreme Court retention election started a major trend turning such elections into "an ideological battleground over judicial philosophies and specific decisions", making them "as highly salient as races for overtly political offices", wrote one academic paper. Even before the election, California Supreme Court Justice Otto KausOtto Kaus
Otto M. Kaus was a former judge from the State of California. He was born in Vienna, Austria. He was already attending school in Great Britain when the rest of his family fled the Nazis in the 1930s. Immigrating to the United States, his family settled in Los Angeles, California...
remarked "You cannot forget the fact that you have a crocodile in your bathtub", referring to the act of making a judicial decision without regard to the potential political consequences. "You know it's there, and you try not to think about it, but it's hard to think about much else while you're shaving." "You keep wondering whether you're letting yourself be influenced, and you do not know. You do not know yourself that well," he wrote. "You worry about it in two different ways," wrote Reynoso; "First you worry it might influence you improperly. Then you worry because you're concerned you might overcompensate, and not pay enough attention to arguments that are perfectly legitimate."
Erwin Chemerinsky
Erwin Chemerinsky
Erwin Chemerinsky is an American lawyer and law professor. He is a prominent scholar in United States constitutional law and federal civil procedure...
, a law professor from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, agreed with the ousted Justice Grodin, saying "the legacy of 1986 could be that justices facing retention elections will decide cases with an eye, perhaps subconsciously, on how their rulings will affect their chances at the polls." Chemerinsky called for abolishing judicial-review elections. He wrote, "Largely due to defects in a poorly worded death penalty law, the court had a strikingly one-sided pattern of decisions on the issue", noting that this, Bird's controversial history, the trio's appointments by an unpopular governor, and the realization by their opponents that the court's ideology could be completely changed if the campaign succeeded lead to the opposition campaign. Jazon Czarnezki, assistant professor of law at Marquette University
Marquette University
Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...
, attributed Bird's defeat to "her resolute opposition to the death penalty and overturning a series of death sentences". Exit polls indicated that the death-penalty issue was the major reason why voters refused to retain the justices.
The justices were also impacted by a lack of support from Democratic legislative incumbents in safe districts.
Despite the fact that California Supreme Court justices undergoing a retention election are running uncontested, the median spending for justices' campaigns rose from $3,177 in 1976 to $70,000 in 1994.
Campaigns similar to the one expelling Bird, Grodin, and Reynoso have since been mounted against judges in other states, such as Justice Penny J. White
Penny J. White
Penny J. White is an American attorney and former judge who is on the faculty of the University of Tennessee College of Law. She was a Tennessee circuit court judge, a member of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, and a justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court before being removed from office...
of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, who also lost a retention election due to a death-penalty issue. Retired California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George
Ronald George
Ronald George may refer to:*Ronald M. George, 27th Chief Justice of California*Ron George, Maryland State Delegate*Ron George , English professional footballer who played for Crystal Palace and Colchester United...
advocated eliminating retention elections and appointing justices to single 15-year terms, following an election in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
where three justices were removed from office after that state's high court overturned a ban on same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
. The campaign was largely funded by out-of-state organizations; George said that the January 2010 United States Supreme Court ruling allowing corporations and unions to contribute unlimited sums to independent political committees
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, , was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that the First Amendment prohibits government from censoring political broadcasts in candidate elections when those broadcasts are funded by corporations or unions...
was likely to increase the influence of well-funded groups in nonpartisan judicial retention elections like those in Iowa and California.
Post-judiciary
After leaving the Court, Reynoso returned to private law practice and academia. Shortly after his ouster, he was appointed to the California Post Secondary Education Commission.He has worked for the New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
–based firm of Kay, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler, out of their Sacramento office, where he was a special counsel. He worked on complex civil litigation, as an expert witness on legal ethics, and as a mediator. His agreement with the firm allowed him to spend up to 40 percent of his time on pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
work.
In 1991, he joined the faculty of the UCLA School of Law
UCLA School of Law
The UCLA School of Law is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. It has been approved by the American Bar Association since 1950. It joined the Association of American Law Schools in 1952.- History :...
, where he taught until 2001. He was a faculty adviser for the Chicano-Latino Law Review. In 1995, UCLA law students selected him as Professor of the Year.
The United States Senate appointed Reynoso to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in April 1993. He was appointed the vice-chairman of the Commission by President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
on November 19, 1993. During his tenure, he accused California Governor Pete Wilson
Pete Wilson
Peter Barton "Pete" Wilson is an American politician from California. Wilson, a Republican, served as the 36th Governor of California , the culmination of more than three decades in the public arena that included eight years as a United States Senator , eleven years as Mayor of San Diego and...
of generating anti-immigrant sentiments to gain popularity. When the Commission harshly criticized Florida's handling of the presidential election of 2000
United States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
, Reynoso said "the greatest sin" was the number of people who weren't allowed to vote. He was among the commissioners that looked into complaints that some eligible voters were denied the right to vote, or that votes were improperly counted, in Florida. Reynoso, along with Commission chairwoman Mary Frances Berry
Mary Frances Berry
Mary Frances Berry is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania and the former chairwoman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. She is also the former board chair of Pacifica Radio...
, resigned his commission on December 7, 2004, after President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's White House staff announced that their six-year terms had expired on December 5 and announced replacements for them. Berry and Renoso maintained that their commissions were not due to expire until midnight on January 21, 2005, but said in their resignation letters that it wasn't worth the fight. The move to replace them occurred after the Commission released a draft of a report criticizing Bush's civil rights record.
On July 1, 2001, Reynoso joined the faculty at the University of California, Davis, School of Law
UC Davis School of Law
The University of California Davis School of Law , referred to as UC Davis School of Law and commonly known as King Hall and UC Davis Law, is an American Bar Association approved law school located in Davis, California on the campus of the University of California, Davis. The school received ABA...
as the first Boochever & Bird Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality. The chair, established with a gift from UC Davis alumni Charles Bird, is named in honor of Judge Robert Boochever
Robert Boochever
Robert Boochever was a United States federal judge and a Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court.Born in New York City, New York, Boochever received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1939, where he was a member of the Quill and Dagger society, and an LL.D. from Cornell Law School in 1941...
and Bird's parents, and is awarded in recognition of outstanding scholarship, teaching, and commitment to preserving and expanding the understanding of "the virtues necessary of a great republic." He retired in December 2006, becoming a professor emeritus.
In 2009, Reynoso spoke with UC Davis law students, noting that he has retired a few times, but was then chairing a citizens' commission investigating the death of Luis Gutierrez, a farm worker shot by police in Yolo County
Yolo County, California
Yolo County is a county located in the northern part of the U.S. state of California, bordered by the other counties of Sacramento, Solano, Napa, Lake, Colusa, and Sutter. The city of Woodland is its county seat, though Davis is its largest city....
.
President-elect Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
appointed Reynoso to his White House transition team in early 2009, as part of a justice and civil rights sub-team.
Following a June 10, 2010 Washington, DC screening of Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice, the Abby Ginzberg
Abby Ginzberg
Abby Ginzberg has been an independent documentary film director and producer for the past 20 years, creating films that tackle discrimination and the legal profession. She recently completed the documentary, Soul of Justice: Thelton Henderon's American Journey, which focused on federal district...
documentary film, he was injured in a car accident in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, along with his wife Elaine and grandson. Reynoso suffered a broken collarbone, a punctured lung, and other injuries when a Hummer
Hummer
Hummer was a brand of trucks and SUVs, first marketed in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. In 1998, General Motors purchased the brand name and marketed three vehicles: the original Hummer H1, based on the Humvee; and the H2 and H3 models that were...
struck their rental car at an intersection, hospitalizing him for nine days. His wife suffered "grave injuries" to her brain and internal organs, requiring multiple surgeries. Both were placed into medically-induced comas
Induced coma
A barbiturate-induced coma, or barb coma, is a temporary coma brought on by a controlled dose of a barbiturate drug, usually pentobarbital or thiopental...
; Elaine remained in a coma after the inducement was stopped. Reynoso was initially cited for pulling out into the path of the Hummer, which had the right of way, but a judge dismissed the case. Elaine Reynoso resigned from her position as a trustee of Sierra College
Sierra College
Sierra College, a California community college, has its main campus located in Rocklin, California. Rocklin is located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, approximately twenty minutes from the state capital of Sacramento and east of San Francisco. The campus lies within the watershed...
in June 2011 to focus on recovering from her injuries; she has required extensive physical rehabilitation.
After the accident, Reynoso said he has re-evaluated his priorities, and will focus on completing his memoirs and legal articles, as well as resuming work on the Yolo citizens' commission probe. The commission's work was put on hold while the Reynosos recuperated.
Reynoso has served on the boards of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is a national non-profit civil rights organization formed in 1968 to protect the rights of Latinos in the United States...
, the Natural Resources Defense Council
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a New York City-based, non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing...
, and Children Now. He co-founded the Latino Issues Forum with Bob Genasda, and was Chairman of its board of directors. He is a trustee of the Garment Workers Trust Fund.
Awards and honors
On August 9, 2000, President Clinton awarded Reynoso the Presidential Medal of FreedomPresidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
, the United States's highest civilian honor. The medal's citation said "Through his efforts to address social inequity in his rural community, his leadership of the pioneering California Rural Legal Assistance program, his tenure as the first Latino on the California Supreme Court and his service on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, he has been a strong force for change and a passionate voice for our nation's disadvantaged".
Reynoso received the Hispanic Heritage Award
Hispanic Heritage Foundation
The Hispanic Heritage Foundation is a non-profit organization operating out of Reston, Virginia that works to increase the number of Latina and Latino leaders in society...
in Education on September 7, 2000, during a nationally-televised presentation at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In 2003, UC Davis law students organized the La Raza
La Raza
In the Spanish language the term Raza translates to "race". Its meaning varies amongst various Spanish-speaking peoples. For instance, in Spain, "Raza" may denote specifically Spanish and often of a something or someone of a European Christian heritage. The Francoist film Raza, from 1944, which...
Law Students Association; donors established the Cruz Reynoso Social Justice Fellowship. The fellowship helps Latino law students attending Berkeley Law afford the opportunity to work as judicial externs or in social justice during the summer break.
He was honored with the University of California Davis Medal of Honor at a lifetime achievement event on September 15, 2007, at the Mondavi Center
Mondavi Center
The Mondavi Center, or Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, is a performing arts venue located on the UC Davis campus in Davis, California...
. The medal is the highest honor bestowed by the university. At the event, UC Davis announced the Cruz and Jeannene Reynoso Scholarship for Legal Access, which helps first-year students with financial needs.
Documentary filmmaker Abby Ginzberg
Abby Ginzberg
Abby Ginzberg has been an independent documentary film director and producer for the past 20 years, creating films that tackle discrimination and the legal profession. She recently completed the documentary, Soul of Justice: Thelton Henderon's American Journey, which focused on federal district...
produced the film Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice. It was funded in 2009 in part by the California Documentary Project of the California Council for the Humanities. The film was screened at film festivals and other institutions in the United States, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, and Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. Ginzberg says she chose to make the film because "I was involved in the effort to save the justices in 1986, and I have always wanted to take a second look at why the campaign to recall them was so successful." It was first screened on March 16, 2010 at the Chicano Resource Center of the East Los Angeles Library. The film was a Gold Winner of the 2010 Davey Awards in the Film/Video/TV category. It also received the Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary at the Sacramento Film and Music Festival
Sacramento Film and Music Festival
The Sacramento Film and Music Festival is a large, multi-day, all-genre international film festival held in Sacramento, California in the United States. It has been in operation under consistent direction and ownership since 2000...
.
The City of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
passed a resolution honoring Reynoso that was presented to him while he was a visiting distinguished scholar at the John Marshall Law School
John Marshall Law School (Chicago)
The John Marshall Law School is a law school in Chicago, Illinois, that was founded in 1899 and accredited by the American Bar Association in 1941. The school was named for the influential nineteenth century U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall....
in 2009.
The State Bar of California
State Bar of California
The State Bar of California is California's official bar association. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, and prescribing appropriate discipline...
gave Reynoso its Bernard E. Witkin
Bernard E. Witkin
Bernard E. Witkin is the founder of the California law treatise Witkin's.In 1928, Witkin was an unhappy law student at Boalt Hall who thought that the Socratic method used in law school teaching was not an efficient way to learn the law. He seldom went to class and was in danger of flunking out...
Medal in September 2009 for his "significant contributions to the quality of justice and legal scholarship" in California, recognizing him as a "legal giant".
In April 2011, the University of California, Merced
University of California, Merced
The University of California, Merced, commonly referred to as UC Merced or UCM, is the tenth and newest of the University of California campuses. Located in the San Joaquin Valley in unincorporated Merced County, California, near Merced, UC Merced was the first American research university to...
awarded Reynoso the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance. The prize honors people who exemplify the delivery of social justice, diplomacy, and tolerance in their work. The prize included a $10,000 award.
Chapman University
Chapman University
Chapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree upon him in May 2011.