Rose Bird

Rose Elizabeth Bird (November 2, 1936–December 4, 1999) served for 10 years as the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court until removed from that office by the voters.

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She was the first female Chief Justice of the Court, and the first to be removed from that office by a majority of the state's voters. California 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. Prior to becoming the first female Chief Justice in California, she was the first female law clerk in the Supreme Court of Nevada, the first female deputy public defender in Santa Clara County, and the first female to hold a cabinet-level job in California (as Secretary of Agriculture).

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Bird was removed in the November 4, 1986 election after a high-profile, highly partisan campaign which cited her categorical opposition to the death penalty. She had voted against the death penalty in every such case that came before her — all 61 of them. This led Bird's opponents to claim that she was substituting her own opinions and ideas for the laws and precedents upon which judicial decisions are supposed to be made. The anti-Bird campaign ran television commercials featuring the children of the victims of the murderers whose sentences Bird and her allies Cruz Reynoso and Joseph Grodin had voted to reverse.

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The campaign to oust Bird is considered a triumph for "social conservatives." However, the campaign was also supported by business interests who felt that California's legal system had become too anti-business) under prior chief justices like Roger J. Traynor, and Bird was compounding the liability crisis with opinions that were muddling previously-settled aspects of contract law.

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In addition to Bird, Reynoso and Grodin were also voted off the bench. Veteran Justice Stanley Mosk, who regularly joined Bird, Reynoso, and Grodin, was not challenged and remained on the court. As a result of the 1986 election, Governor George Deukmejian was able to appoint several conservative justices (including new Chief Justice Malcolm Lucas) and move the court to a more right-leaning, pro-business (and pro-death penalty) judicial philosophy.

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Bird, who had no prior judicial experience, was originally appointed by former governor of California Jerry Brown — although it is important to note that Traynor, California's greatest Chief Justice, also had no judicial experience prior to his appointment. She died on December 4, 1999, of breast cancer (which she had fought on and off since 1976), at the age of 63.

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1936: 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar)....

1999: :For the album by Prince, see 1999 (album)...

California Supreme Court: redirect Supreme Court of California...

Rose Bird related Images and Photos (experimental)

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Rose	Bird	Bird (DVD)	Bird I
Rose I	Rose II	Rose II	Bird III