Rose Bird
Encyclopedia
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
. In the November 1986 state election she also became the only Chief Justice in California history to be removed from office by the voters.
. Her father, after having deserted the family, died when she was five, so her mother Anne moved with Rose and her two older brothers to New York, where they grew up in poverty. Bird earned her bachelor's degree Magna Cum Laude from Long Island University
and went on to graduate from the UC Berkeley School of Law
(also known as Boalt Hall) in 1965.
Her career was marked by several firsts: prior to becoming the first female Chief Justice of California, she was the first female law clerk
in the Supreme Court of Nevada
, the first female deputy public defender
in Santa Clara County
, the first woman to hold a cabinet-level job in California (as Secretary of Agriculture) and the first chief justice (male or female) to be removed from the California Supreme Court. In 1966 Rose Bird had joined the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office where, between 1966 and 1974, she held the positions of deputy public defender, senior trial deputy, and chief of the appellate division. In addition to arguing cases before California's Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, and in federal court, Bird taught at Stanford Law School
from 1972 through 1974.
Her tenure on the Supreme Court was controversial. She was criticized as an ideologue who substituted her personal bias over the law and state Constitution. Her widely perceived personal versus judicial opposition to the death penalty was a particular sore point for her critics. She was first up for confirmation in 1978. There was a campaign waged against her, which she did not respond to. However, on election day, it was charged that the court decided to withhold the publication of a controversial ruling until after the 1978 vote. The ensuing controversy generated considerable press coverage but, by then, Bird had been confirmed by a 52% to 48% margin.
Bird was also controversial among the Associate Justices on her own court. In a 1998 oral history
interview, Stanley Mosk
explained that Bird was a bright and intelligent judge but a terrible administrator (one of the Chief Justice's major responsibilities); she did bizarre things like forcing all the Associate Justices to make appointments just to talk to her for any reason.
justices are selected by the governor
but must be regularly reconfirmed by the electorate; prior to Bird, no California appellate judge had ever failed such a vote.
She was removed in the November 4, 1986 election
by a margin of 67 to 33 percent after a high-profile campaign that cited her categorical opposition to the death penalty. She reviewed a total of 64 capital cases appealed to the court. In each instance she issued a decision overturning the death penalty that had been imposed at trial. She was joined in her decision to overturn by at least three other members of the court in 61 of those cases. This led Bird's critics to claim that she was substituting her own opinions and ideas for the law
s and precedent
s upon which judicial decisions are supposed to be made. In addition, the Bird court struck down California's "use a gun, go to jail" law that made a prison term mandatory for any crime in which the use of a gun was involved. The anti-Bird campaign ran television
commercials featuring the children of the victims of the murder
ers whose sentences Bird and her fellow justices Cruz Reynoso
and Joseph Grodin
had voted to reverse. In addition to Bird, Reynoso and Grodin were also voted off the seven-justice California state supreme court bench. Justice Stanley Mosk
, who often joined Bird, Reynoso, and Grodin, was not challenged nor were the other three justices.
12 years later, Mosk explained why he was able to stay and Bird was not:
As a result of the 1986 election, newly-reelected Governor George Deukmejian
was able to elevate Justice Malcolm Lucas
to Chief Justice and appoint three new associate justices that more closely matched his generally conservative political and legal convictions.
judge in an episode of the 1984-85 TV series Pryor's Place
starring Richard Pryor
. In 1987, Bird appeared as a judge on a television program called Superior Court (a show somewhat similar to The People's Court
, though with scripted trials usually focussing on topical issues).
from complications of breast cancer
(which she had fought on and off since 1976) at the age of 63. The California Public Defender's Association established an award in her honor, as did the California Women Lawyers.
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...
. In the November 1986 state election she also became the only Chief Justice in California history to be removed from office by the voters.
Early life and experience
Bird was born near Tucson, ArizonaTucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
. Her father, after having deserted the family, died when she was five, so her mother Anne moved with Rose and her two older brothers to New York, where they grew up in poverty. Bird earned her bachelor's degree Magna Cum Laude from Long Island University
Long Island University
Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...
and went on to graduate from the UC Berkeley School of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, commonly referred to as Berkeley Law and Boalt Hall, is one of 14 schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley Law is consistently regarded as an elite and prestigious law school...
(also known as Boalt Hall) in 1965.
Her career was marked by several firsts: prior to becoming the first female Chief Justice of California, she was the first female law clerk
Law clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person who provides assistance to a judge in researching issues before the court and in writing opinions. Law clerks are not court clerks or courtroom deputies, who are administrative staff for the court. Most law clerks are recent law school graduates who...
in the Supreme Court of Nevada
Supreme Court of Nevada
The Supreme Court of Nevada is the state supreme court of Nevada. It is the highest judicial body of the Nevada state government.There are seven Justices of the court, who are elected to six-year terms in officially nonpartisan elections. The Governor appoints Justices in the case of a vacancy...
, the first female deputy public defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
in Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
, the first woman to hold a cabinet-level job in California (as Secretary of Agriculture) and the first chief justice (male or female) to be removed from the California Supreme Court. In 1966 Rose Bird had joined the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office where, between 1966 and 1974, she held the positions of deputy public defender, senior trial deputy, and chief of the appellate division. In addition to arguing cases before California's Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, and in federal court, Bird taught at Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
from 1972 through 1974.
Her tenure on the Supreme Court was controversial. She was criticized as an ideologue who substituted her personal bias over the law and state Constitution. Her widely perceived personal versus judicial opposition to the death penalty was a particular sore point for her critics. She was first up for confirmation in 1978. There was a campaign waged against her, which she did not respond to. However, on election day, it was charged that the court decided to withhold the publication of a controversial ruling until after the 1978 vote. The ensuing controversy generated considerable press coverage but, by then, Bird had been confirmed by a 52% to 48% margin.
Bird was also controversial among the Associate Justices on her own court. In a 1998 oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
interview, Stanley Mosk
Stanley Mosk
Stanley Mosk was an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court for 37 years , and holds the record for the longest-serving justice on that court. Before sitting on the Supreme Court, he served as Attorney General of California and as a trial court judge, among other governmental positions...
explained that Bird was a bright and intelligent judge but a terrible administrator (one of the Chief Justice's major responsibilities); she did bizarre things like forcing all the Associate Justices to make appointments just to talk to her for any reason.
Reconfirmation Loss
Bird was the first and remains the only Chief Justice to be removed from that office by a majority of the state's voters. CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
justices are selected by the governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
but must be regularly reconfirmed by the electorate; prior to Bird, no California appellate judge had ever failed such a vote.
She was removed in the November 4, 1986 election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
by a margin of 67 to 33 percent after a high-profile campaign that cited her categorical opposition to the death penalty. She reviewed a total of 64 capital cases appealed to the court. In each instance she issued a decision overturning the death penalty that had been imposed at trial. She was joined in her decision to overturn by at least three other members of the court in 61 of those cases. This led Bird's critics to claim that she was substituting her own opinions and ideas for the law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
s and precedent
Precedent
In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...
s upon which judicial decisions are supposed to be made. In addition, the Bird court struck down California's "use a gun, go to jail" law that made a prison term mandatory for any crime in which the use of a gun was involved. The anti-Bird campaign ran television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
commercials featuring the children of the victims of the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ers whose sentences Bird and her fellow justices Cruz Reynoso
Cruz Reynoso
Cruz Reynoso is a civil rights lawyer, professor emeritus of law, and the first Chicano Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court . He also served on the California Third District Court of Appeal...
and 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...
had voted to reverse. In addition to Bird, Reynoso and Grodin were also voted off the seven-justice California state supreme court bench. Justice Stanley Mosk
Stanley Mosk
Stanley Mosk was an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court for 37 years , and holds the record for the longest-serving justice on that court. Before sitting on the Supreme Court, he served as Attorney General of California and as a trial court judge, among other governmental positions...
, who often joined Bird, Reynoso, and Grodin, was not challenged nor were the other three justices.
12 years later, Mosk explained why he was able to stay and Bird was not:
As a result of the 1986 election, newly-reelected Governor 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:...
was able to elevate Justice Malcolm Lucas
Malcolm M. Lucas
Malcolm Millar Lucas was the 26th Chief Justice of California. He was appointed to the position after his predecessor, Rose Bird, was removed by the electorate in 1986 for reasons including her staunch opposition to capital punishment, which was reflected in her voting for reversal in all 61...
to Chief Justice and appoint three new associate justices that more closely matched his generally conservative political and legal convictions.
Career after the Supreme Court
Bird appeared as a family courtFamily court
A family court is a court convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, such as custody of children. In common-law jurisdictions "family courts" are statutory creations primarily dealing with equitable matters devolved from a court of inherent jurisdiction, such as a...
judge in an episode of the 1984-85 TV series Pryor's Place
Pryor's Place
Pryor's Place is a short-lived children's television series that aired on CBS. The live-action series starred comedian, Richard Pryor as himself.-Overview:Despite a reputation for profanity from Richard Pryor, Pryor's Place was aimed at children...
starring Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
. In 1987, Bird appeared as a judge on a television program called Superior Court (a show somewhat similar to The People's Court
The People's Court
The People's Court is a US television court show in which small claims court cases are heard, though what is shown is actually a binding arbitration....
, though with scripted trials usually focussing on topical issues).
Death and tributes
Bird died on December 4, 1999, at Stanford University Medical CenterStanford University Medical Center
Stanford University Medical Center represents the Stanford Hospital and the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and is located at 300 Pasteur Drive in Stanford, California. Stanford Hospital provides both general acute care services and tertiary medical care for patients locally, nationally and...
from complications of breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
(which she had fought on and off since 1976) at the age of 63. The California Public Defender's Association established an award in her honor, as did the California Women Lawyers.