[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 96 (Wednesday, July 11, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H3931-H3932]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE LEGACY OF CALIFORNIA STATE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE STANLEY MOSK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WATSON of California. Mr. Speaker, today I stand before this 
august body to pay tribute to a superb colleague, friend, and fighter 
for justice, the late Honorable California State Supreme Court Justice 
Stanley Mosk.
  As a State Supreme Court Justice, Stanley Mosk fought repeatedly for 
civil rights and individual liberties. He constantly strove for 
fairness for all Californians. Judge Mosk did not view his judicial 
task as a job, but as a mission for humanity. Judge Mosk understood the 
pain of racism.
  It was during his election to statewide office that his faith was 
made an issue. Judge Mosk, as a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, threw 
out a restrictive real estate covenant that prevented a black family 
from moving into a white neighborhood. A year later, the U.S. Supreme 
Court voided such covenants.
  It was Judge Mosk's ability to relate to the pain caused by racism 
that allowed him to approach legal decisions with a touch of humanity 
and fairness.
  Even before his career as a judge, Mosk had the ability to tell the 
difference between right and wrong. As a State Attorney General in the 
late 1950s and early 1960s, he established the office's civil rights 
division, and helped to persuade the Professional Golfer's Association 
to drop its whites-only rule.
  Judge Mosk, a longtime Democrat and self-described liberal, was 
appointed to the State's highest court in 1964 and served until his 
death, a 37-year tenure that made him the State's longest-serving 
Justice. During that time, he wrote 1,500 opinions.
  Judge Mosk often produced opinions separate from the court majority. 
He opposed the death penalty, but also showed flexibility and a knack 
for anticipating political currents. His decisions continued to reflect 
his quest for fairness and the desire to correct existing wrongs.
  In 1972, Judge Mosk's ruling extended to private developers a law 
requiring a study of each major project's likely environmental impact 
and ways to avoid the harm.

                              {time}  1930

  In 1978, Judge Mosk ruled to ban racial discrimination in jury 
selections.

[[Page H3932]]

He rendered this decision 8 years before the U.S. Supreme Court made 
the same decision. In light of his judicial decisions and opinions, 
Judge Stanley Mosk remained a champion for fairness and humanity.
  Today, I am honored as a Californian and as a former State Senator to 
pay homage to the career and the legacy of this great man.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I speak today to honor a man who was a 
tribute to his court, his state, and his nation. Justice Stanley Mosk 
of the California State Supreme Court leaves behind a legacy of his 
strong belief in civil rights and free speech. It is my hope that 
Governor Gray Davis will seek out another advocate for the people to 
step into Justice Mosk's shoes.
  Justice Mosk will be remembered for many things. He was often on the 
forefront of legal issues. Back in 1947, when he was a judge on the Los 
Angeles Superior Court, Justice Mosk threw out a racially restrictive 
covenant that prevented a black family from moving into a white 
neighborhood. That case, Wright v. Drye, came out a year before the 
United States Supreme Court made its own similar decision in Shelley v. 
Kramer.
  In 1978, Justice Mosk again led the U.S. Supreme Court in ground-
breaking decisions. In that year, he ruled for a ban on racial 
discrimination in jury selection. The U.S. Supreme Court waited eight 
years before making the same ruling.
  Justice Mosk promoted civil rights from an early stage in his career. 
While serving as the California State Attorney General in the late 
1950s and early 1960s, Justice Mosk established the office's civil 
rights division. He also successfully fought against the Professionals 
Golfers' Association bylaws that denied across to minority golfers. 
Justice Mosk went further than that--actually contacting each state's 
attorney general on this matter, to ensure that no state would provide 
the PGA with a place to hide. Charlie Sifford, the African-American 
golfer whose cause Justice Mosk took up, sent a note to the Mosk family 
after hearing of Justice Mosk's death.
  Justice Mosk worked to improve voting rights long before the 
disasters that occurred in last year's election. He fought successfully 
for Latino voting rights in the 1960 election in Imperial Valley. He 
did what we should do in our present day elections--he sent agents down 
to the Valley to be sure that the voters weren't being intimidated.
  Justice Mosk was also an extremely productive judge, producing nearly 
1700 rulings during his tenure on the California State Supeme Court.
  The State of California has lost not only a great justice and strong 
advocate, but a true legacy. His presence will be missed by those who 
worked with him, and his absence will be felt by those on whose behalf 
he worked.
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I wish to pay tribute to a 
renowned man who has had a tremendous impact on our country. ``Libertas 
per Justitiam''--Liberty through Justice, was a phrase that Justice 
Mosk had sewn into the collar of his judicial robes. It is a fitting 
inscription for a man who embodied the phrase so completely. We come 
today to reflect on the life and legacy of Justice Stanley Mosk of the 
California Supreme Court. Justice Mosk spent more than half a century 
on the bench, including 37 years as a justice of the California Supreme 
Court. During his time on the bench, Justice Mosk dedicated his life to 
ensuring and protecting individual rights for the people of California. 
He remained steadfast in his liberal views, despite serving the last 
fourteen years as the only liberal on the high court.
  Justice Mosk's distinguished career began immediately after law 
school with his own private practice from 1935 to 1939. He then became 
Executive Secretary to the Governor, and later served as Attorney 
General of California for nearly six years before his tenure on the 
bench. Despite the often-contradictory opinions of his colleagues, 
Justice Mosk never backed down from what he believed to be fair and 
just.
  I would like to take a moment to highlight a couple of his important 
achievements. In 1947, as a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, he struck 
down as unconstitutional the racially restrictive real estate covenants 
used to prevent minorities from buying houses in certain neighborhoods. 
When he became Attorney General in 1958, he fought to eradicate the 
Professional Golfers Associations whites-only clause, which prohibited 
minorities from being a part of the PGA. Justice Mosk remained an 
unassuming and unpretentious man who took pride in his judicial 
activities as well as his civic activities. For instance, he was 
involved actively with the problems of children who could not live with 
their families, as the president of the Vista Del Mar-Child Care 
Agency.
  Justice Mosk served the state of California until the day before he 
died, and with his death, the state of California lost what many 
considered to be a true champion of justice. Justice was not only his 
well deserved title, but was also characteristic of his personal 
mission--to find fairness in a world filled with injustice. As a 
devoted liberal, his eloquence and principles shined through his work 
on the court. Among his many great contributions he will be remembered 
for pioneering the theory of ``independent state grounds.'' This is the 
source of many path-breaking state privacy rulings and has given states 
the chance to become agents for legal change.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand here today to honor Justice Stanley 
Mosk, a glorious man who has left an indelible impression on our state 
and our country. Through his body of accomplishments his passion for 
justice shall live beyond his tenure on earth. His family, friends, 
colleagues, and the state of California will miss him dearly.
  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Justice Stanley Mosk, 
who died last month after serving 37 years on the California Supreme 
Court. He was California's longest serving Justice, a highly respected, 
even revered judge who delivered almost 1,700 opinions in his 
remarkable career. He was repeatedly honored for his contributions to 
the caliber of our judiciary and the quality of justice meted out by 
our courts in California. He was a distinguished lawyer, a renowned 
author and an outstanding jurist.
  I have had the honor of knowing Justice Mosk and his family for many 
years and he was, to me, one of those special people who had a profound 
influence on my political life. He was a tremendously impressive 
individual who embodied a unique combination of political savvy and 
legal scholarship with an abiding commitment to justice.
  From 1939 to 1942 he served as executive secretary and legal adviser 
to the Governor of California, and for the 16 years from 1943 to 1959 
he was a judge of the Superior Court in Los Angeles. After serving in 
the Coast Guard Temporary Reserve during the early days of World War 
II, Judge Mosk left the Superior Court bench and enlisted in the army 
as a private. He served until the end of the war and then returned to 
the court.
  In 1958, Mosk 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.
  He was the first person of the Jewish faith to be elected to a 
statewide office after a campaign in which his religion was made an 
issue and his decisive victories were enormously important to Jewish 
candidates who followed him into public service, because it established 
the fact that their religion would not be a factor in California 
elections.
  He was appointed to the state's high court in 1964 by then-Governor 
Pat Brown. Justice Mosk loved being on the court and hated the thought 
of retirement, but fearing that his age was slowing him down, he had 
reluctantly decided to step down this year. He died the day he planned 
to submit this resignation letter to Governor Davis.
  Justice Mosk fought doggedly for civil rights and individual 
liberties. He threw out restrictive real estate covenants that kept 
black families out of white neighborhoods and opened professional golf 
to nonwhites. He barred prosecutors from removing jurors on racial 
grounds. He declared that handicapped parents could not be stereotyped 
and automatically disqualified from raising their own children.
  He was revered for his independence as well as his intelligence, his 
dedication to equal justice and his wisdom and common sense.
  In November of 1998, Justice Mosk offered this list of his top 
priorities should he be reelected to the Supreme Court: (1) Properly 
apply the law, (2) Independence and impartiality, and (3) Justice. He 
can be no better eulogized than by this short list, which be honored 
throughout his brilliant career. I ask my colleagues to join me today 
in paying tribute to Justice Stanley Mosk, a legal giant of California.

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