The latest issue of the California Supreme Court Historical Society Review (Fall/Winter 2022) is out. We borrow from a communication from its editors:
“The Supreme Court Case That Dared Not Speak Its Name,” by L.A. attorney Bob Wolfe, documents the little-known story of ONE v. Olesin (1958). One Magazine, whose offices were in L.A., was the first openly gay magazine in the nation, and the subject of the high court’s summary reversal of the obscenity charges filed against it. The court’s action is now regarded as pivotal in the eventual legal recognition of LGBTQ rights."
"The 1944 Port Chicago Mutiny and the Legacy of Racism in the U.S. Military” by John S. Caragozian is “an mutiny by African-American Navy personnel. The workers, at the naval base near Marin, California, were assigned to load huge shipments of live explosives without training, and feared deadly accidents. Indeed, the massive explosion that occurred on July 17 killed 320 men, wounded an additional 390 and destroyed the pier, the cargo ship Bryan, railroad locomotives and buildings. The subsequent court martial and conviction of 50 sailors who resisted orders to go back to work resulted in lengthy prison sentences for the men. L.A. author John Caragozian sees the incident as another example of the U.S. military’s legacy of racism.”
“Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye’s Mission to Bring Order From Chaos” by David A. Carrillo, is “an appraisal of California's retiring Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye's tenure and a profile of the state's new chief justice, Patricia Guerrero.” It is followed by Jake Dear, “Personal Reflections About Working for and With Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.”
Other contributions include “A Glimpse Into the Private Life of the Late Chief Justice Rose Bird” by the Honorable Robert C. Vanderet; “Expanding Justice for All: The Supreme Court of California in Times of Change” by Marie Silva, and “Public Defenders: The Antidote to Communism,” which is the Honorable Maria E. Stratton’s review of Sara Mayeux’s Free Justice: A History of the Public Defender in Twentieth.Century America.
--Dan Ernst
