Justice Stanley Mosk

This is the first biography of Stanley Mosk (1912–2001), iconic protector of civil rights and civil liberties during his 37 years as a justice of the Supreme Court of California (1964 to 2001). He had quickly risen as a well liked leader among Los Angeles reformers, as executive secretary to California governor Culbert Olson and then 16 years as a superior court judge. His 1958 election and service as state attorney general soon won national attention and the promise of likely election to the U.S. Senate, but an unexpected campaign twist augured a new course. This book frames Mosk’s Supreme Court years and the landmark cases in which his opinions or biting dissents continue to resonate.

Jacqueline R. Braitman, formerly with the department of history and The Center for the Study of Woman at the University of California, Los Angeles, has published widely on partisan women and has served as the assistant executive director of the California Supreme Court Historical Society.
Gerald F. Uelmen is a professor of law (and former law school dean) at Santa Clara University. Past president of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice and California Catholic Lawyers Against the Death Penalty, he chairs the editorial advisory committee for California Lawyer.

Jacqueline R. Braitman and Gerald F. Uelmen
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 288
Bibliographic Info: 29 photos, notes, bibliography, indexes
Copyright Date: 2013
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6841-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0071-0
Imprint: McFarland

Preface and Acknowledgments      1

Introduction      3

1. “Walk Upstairs and Save”      9

2. “What This Fraternity Needs Is More Moreys!”      20

3. Lawyers “Who Should Be Thrown Out of Ten Story Windows”      28

4. “When the Plums Are Passed Out … You Will Be Left Behind Again”      40

5. “I Crowded the War Off Page One”      53

6. “The Jewish Community Found a Leader”      72

7. “Use Their Heads Instead of Their Hob-Nailed Boots”      79

8. “Little Old Ladies in Tennis Shoes”      89

9. “A Great Democratic Rain”      109

10. “To Embarrass Them or Pressure Them Sometime in the Future”      120

11. “He Never Forgot What His Positions Were”      135

12. “The Mosk Doctrine”      149

13. “The Melancholy Truth”      159

14. “You Don’t Have to Remove Your Shoes Before Stepping All Over Stanley Mosk”      164

15. “But I Blame Jerry Brown for Putting You Here”      177

16. “You Have Remarkable Sources!”      192

17. “I Am Now an Orphan”      204

18. “I Have Never Known Defeat at the Polls”      214

19. “They Have Exalted Principal Over Principle”      224

20. “Where Has All the Grandeur Gone?”      240

Epilogue      247

Chapter Notes      251

Bibliography      269

Index of Cases      273

General Index      275

“scholarly and spirited”—Jewish Journal; “a well-researched and engrossing narrative…engaging account…a well written biography that will grab your attention and hold it captive”—L.A. Daily Journal; “Stanley Mosk’s lengthy career in public service as a courageous trial judge, masterful politician, forceful attorney general, and brilliant jurist on California’s high court will long be remembered. I look forward to reading Braitman and Uelmen’s invaluable account of the life of this remarkable man.”—Ronald M. George, 27th Chief Justice of California (retired); “With the publication of this biography, the transformative career and fundamental likeability of Justice Mosk now fully becomes part of the permanent record.”—Kevin Starr, Professor of History, U.S.C.; Author of Americans and the California Dream.