[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 87 (Thursday, June 21, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S6598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DEATH OF JUSTICE STANLEY MOSK

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, on Tuesday, California lost one 
of its greatest jurists, Justice Stanley Mosk.
  For more than a half century, and for 37 years on the bench of the 
State Supreme Court, Stanley Mosk served California with 
thoughtfulness, with honor, and indeed, with wisdom.
  He was the longest-serving member in the court's 151-year history, 
issuing a total of 1,688 opinions over his career, including 727 
majority rulings, 570 dissents, and 391 concurrences.
  I knew Stanley Mosk well, and I respected him greatly. He's been a 
giant on the Supreme Court, and he will be missed deeply.
  Justice Mosk began his political career as executive secretary to 
Governor Culbert L. Olson in 1938.
  Following that, he was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court, 
where he served for 15 years.
  And beginning in 1958, Mosk was elected California attorney-general, 
becoming the first Jewish man or woman to be elected to statewide 
office in the State.
  Finally in 1964, weary of politics, Justice Mosk was appointed to the 
supreme court by Governor Pat Brown.
  In this career which spanned more than 53 years, Justice Mosk broke 
new ground in the areas of the environment, the right to sue, and, 
perhaps most notably, in race discrimination, where he protected the 
right of all individuals, regardless of race, to be equally protected 
by the law.
  As early as 1947, while on the superior court, Mosk issued his first 
ruling dealing with race, holding that whites-only restrictions on 
property were unenforceable.
  Then in 1961, when serving as attorney-general, he persuaded the 
Professional Golfers Association to admit black golfers.
  Later, on the supreme court, Mosk wrote perhaps his most famous 
decision of his career on the case of Allan Bakke, a white student who 
challenged racial quotas in the University of California admissions 
program.
  Writing for the majority, Mosk held that the University's quota-based 
admissions program, that favored minorities over whites, was 
unconstitutional.
  In each of these decisions, Mosk favored the right of the individual 
to be treated as an equal, with complete disregard to his or her race. 
It is a formulation which has stood the test of time.
  In addition, Mosk wrote hundreds of decisions that have deeply 
impacted the State. Some of those include: An opinion written in 1980 
allowing victims of the drug DES to sue all makers of the drug, on the 
basis of their market share, when the specific manufacturer was unknown 
to the victims; A 1972 decision that extended the restrictions of the 
California Environmental Quality Act to private developers; and A 1979 
decision that held that a disabled parent could not be denied custody 
of a child solely because of a physical handicap.
  Moreover, many of Mosk's opinions reflected his belief in the 
doctrine of ``independent state grounds,'' which holds that the Federal 
Constitution provides a minimum standard of individual rights upon 
which States can build.
  Stanley Mosk's life was devoted to the law and to the State of 
California. His prolific careers illustrated his deep commitment to 
equality, and he leaves a legacy that will last for years to come.
  He is survived by his wife, Kaygey Kash Mosk, and son Richard M. 
Mosk.

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