The latest edition of California Legal History, the Journal of the California Supreme Court Historical Society, is out and available here. (I’m on the Society’s board of directors.)
The new Journal includes:
- Articles
- › March is the Cruelest (Cruellest) Month by Arthur Gilbert
- › Epstein on Witkin: A Conversation with Norm Epstein about his 15-Year Association with Bernie Witkin by John Wierzbicki
- › Did Brown v. Plata Unleash a More Dangerous Genie? by Todd Spitzer and Greg Totten
- › Victims’ Rights in California: A Historical Perspective to Modern Day by Nancy O’Malley and Harold Boscovich
- › The Roots of America’s Crime Victims’ Legal Rights Movement, 1975-2023, A Personal Retrospective and Memoir by George Nicholson
- › California Without Law: 1846 Though 1850 by Barry Goode and John Caragozian
- Student Writing Competition [related: here and here]
- › The End of Free Land: The Commodification of Suscol Rancho and the Liberalization of American Colonial Policy by Kyle DeLand
- › California’s Constitutional University: Private Property, Public Power, and the Constitutional Corporation, 1868–1900 by Michael Banerjee
- › A Shameful Legacy: Tracing The Japanese American Experience of Police Violence and Racism From the Late 19th Century Through the Aftermath Of World War II by Miranda Tafoya
- Oral Histories
- › Knowing Bernie: The Witkin Oral History Project by John Wierzbicki
- › Remembering the Legacy of Justice John Arguelles: An Introduction and Oral History, oral history by Laura McCreery and introduction and conclusion by Ryan Carter
A Foreword to the Journal by Daniel Kolkey, president of the Society’s board of directors, notes that the current volume “contains several articles that provide detailed, historical perspectives on the evolution of criminal justice policy in California over the past 50 years. Contrasting perspectives will be offered in next year’s journal.” Similarly, the Journal’s new editor, George Nicholson, writes in the Introduction, that “the criminal defense bar’s analysis and perspective will be presented next year.”
Douglas Sanders Sr. writes in the Daily Journal, “California Supreme Court Historical Society publication casts sharp gaze on recent criminal justice reforms.” The article primarily focuses on the Journal essay by Spitzer and Totten. However, it also mistakenly suggests that Spitzer and Totten’s piece appears not in California Legal History, but in the Society’s other publication, the semi-annual Review. The Daily Journal correctly notes that the most recent issue of the Review (see here) “includ[es] a defense of Serranus Clinton Hastings, the first Chief Justice of California” (link added), but it fails to mention the defense responded to an earlier Review article, Of Colleges and Halls and Judges Bearing Gifts: Reflections on the Great Denaming Debate (see here).
[December 27 update: Society president Kolkey writes in the Daily Journal, “Addressing some missing points about the Daily Journal’s report on the California Supreme Court Historical Society publications.”]
