Adam Schiff: “I rise today to pay my deepest respects to the memory and legacy of California State Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk…”

“I rise today to pay my deepest respects to the memory and legacy of California State Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk, a long-standing champion of civil rights and free speech, who passed away in his home on June 19, 2001, at the age of 88. Justice Mosk loved serving on the court and had very reluctantly decided to retire due to his advancing age. Sadly, Justice Mosk died on the day he was to submit his resignation to the Governor of California. I first learned of Justice Mosk as a law student in the 1980s when I studied his opinions as required reading at Harvard Law School, along with the opinions of Justices Tobriner and Traynor. Traynor, Tobriner and Mosk were the giants of the California courts. They were the three gentlemen who made the California court, in many people's view, many scholars around the country, truly the highest court in the land. Justice Mosk served 37 years on that court, the longest of any justice, and served with remarkable productivity, authoring 1,688 rulings. Smart, eloquent and principled, he had a magnificent record of upholding and expanding the rights of individuals.”