[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E44-E45]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO JUSTICE STANLEY MOSK

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 1, 2000

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of the 
giants of American jurisprudence, California Supreme Court Justice 
Stanley Mosk.
  Justice Mosk is recognized as one of the finest constitutional 
lawyers in the United States. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by 
Governor Edmund G. ``Pat'' Brown in 1964 and was confirmed for a new 
12-year term in 1986. This month, he becomes the longest serving 
justice in the history of the California Supreme Court.
  I am honored to ask that the United States House of Representatives 
take note of this milestone--yet another in the career of this 
distinguished jurist. His lifetime is one marked with superlatives.
  Early in his career, he served four years as executive secretary and 
legal advisor to Culbert Levy Olson, the first Democratic Governor of 
California of this century. From 1943 to 1958, he served as a judge of 
the Superior Court of Los Angeles--the youngest Superior Court judge in 
history. In 1958, he was elected Attorney General of California with 
more than a million vote margin over his opponent, the largest majority 
of any contest in America that year. He was overwhelmingly re-elected 
in 1962.
  As Attorney General, Mosk issued about 2,000 written opinions, argued 
before the U.S. and California supreme courts and authored some of 
California's most innovative legislative

[[Page E45]]

proposals in the area of crime and law enforcement. He was the creator 
of new divisions in the Attorney General's office to handle anti-trust, 
constitutional rights, consumer fraud and investment fraud problems.
  As a justice on the California Supreme Court, he has authored many of 
the court's most important opinions and is a distinguished and sought-
after author, lecturer and teacher nationally and internationally.
  Earlier this year, Justice Mosk was honored by the California State 
Bar with the prestigious Bernard E. Witkin Medal. This award reads as 
follows: ``Unfailing in courtesy, kindness and collegiality, Justice 
Mosk's modest demeanor belies the magnitude of his contributions to the 
development of California law.''
  That ``magnitude of his contributions'' was recently described in the 
Albany Law Review: ``An institution, an icon, a trailblazer, a legal 
scholar, a constitutional guardian, a veritable living legend of the 
American judiciary, Justice Mosk has courageously and wisely labored 
for more than three decades as one of the most influential members in 
the history of one of the most influential tribunals in the western 
world.''
  I ask my colleagues now to join me in honoring Justice Mosk for his 
extraordinary contributions and achievements. I am extremely proud to 
celebrate his years of service to California and to the nation.

                          ____________________