Reynoso Comments on Backlash Against Judges
Professor of Law Emeritus Cruz Reynoso provided commentary to the San Francisco Chronicle and The Recorder on the backlash against judges for unpopular rulings.
"Judges, by their positions, have nonmajoritarian duties,'' said Reynoso in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Reynoso was a justice on the Third District Court of Appeal for California from 1976 to 1982 and as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from 1982 to 1987. He was one of three California Supreme Court justices who were unseated in the 1986 election in a campaign that centered on their numerous votes to overturn death sentences. The other two were Chief Justice Rose Bird, who died in 1999, and Joseph Grodin, who like Reynoso is now a University of California law professor.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton honored Cruz Reynoso with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, for his lifelong devotion to public service. Reynoso has also been honored with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation’s Hispanic Heritage Award in Education and the American Bar Association’s Robert J. Kutak and Spirit of Excellence Awards, for his significant contributions toward increased cooperation between legal education, the practicing bar, and the judiciary.
Reynoso joined the UC Davis School of Law faculty in 2001 and became the first holder of the Boochever and Bird Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality.
San Francisco Chronicle/August 11, 2007
The Recorder/August 13, 2007
"Judges, by their positions, have nonmajoritarian duties,'' said Reynoso in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Reynoso was a justice on the Third District Court of Appeal for California from 1976 to 1982 and as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from 1982 to 1987. He was one of three California Supreme Court justices who were unseated in the 1986 election in a campaign that centered on their numerous votes to overturn death sentences. The other two were Chief Justice Rose Bird, who died in 1999, and Joseph Grodin, who like Reynoso is now a University of California law professor.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton honored Cruz Reynoso with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, for his lifelong devotion to public service. Reynoso has also been honored with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation’s Hispanic Heritage Award in Education and the American Bar Association’s Robert J. Kutak and Spirit of Excellence Awards, for his significant contributions toward increased cooperation between legal education, the practicing bar, and the judiciary.
Reynoso joined the UC Davis School of Law faculty in 2001 and became the first holder of the Boochever and Bird Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality.
San Francisco Chronicle/August 11, 2007
The Recorder/August 13, 2007