[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13022]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 13022]]

                TRIBUTE TO THE LATE JUSTICE STANLEY MOSK

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Justice 
Stanley Mosk, a justice of the California Supreme Court, who died a 
couple of weeks ago after 37 years on the California Supreme Court.


  He was remembered at his funeral service for what speaker after 
speaker called his ``legacy of justice.'' Stanley Mosk was the only 
Democrat on the State High Court and a very progressive member. He died 
in San Francisco.
  He was my neighbor and he was my friend. Our colleague, the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Schiff), will be speaking more specifically about 
Stanley Mosk's contribution to the law in California and our country. I 
want to speak briefly about him personally.
  Stanley Mosk was a genius. He was a great tennis player. He took 
great pride in that. He might have wanted that to be first. He was a 
great family person. Of course, that did come first. He was a person of 
such great intellect that his decisions when he wrote them were the 
subject of great admiration and study by law students and admired by 
those who followed the law. He will be greatly missed in San Francisco, 
where the supreme court resides in California.
  He was the first person elected statewide in California, when he ran 
for office many years ago, the first person of the Jewish religion ever 
elected. Once and for all, he settled that issue. Because of Stanley 
Mosk, Jewish candidates know that their religion is not a factor in 
elections in this great State. Indeed, if they were a factor at all, it 
is a plus.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I want to mention further that it is said of 
him that many people learned much about pain and much about joy from 
him.
  Stanley Mosk did not want to retire. He went home, he was with his 
family, but he planned to retire in the fall. So, if I am hesitant 
about this, it is with great sorrow that I tell our colleagues that 
Stanley was vigorous to the end, of course, with his great and powerful 
intellect, benefiting all of us to the end.
  His plan was to retire in the fall. That was not in the cards for 
him. God took him sooner. But I want his family to know that many of us 
in the Congress mourn his passing, and I hope it is a comfort to them 
that so many people share their grief, but also their great pride in 
California Justice Stanley Mosk.

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