Bill Text: CA AR10 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relative to Chief Justice Earl Warren Day.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-25 - Read. Amended. Adopted. (Page 700.). [AR10 Detail]
Download: California-2011-AR10-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: HR 10 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 16, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Hayashi and Swanson
MARCH 7, 2011
Relative to Chief Justice Earl Warren Day.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST
WHEREAS, May 17, 2011, marks the 57th anniversary of the United
States Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
(1953) (1954) 347 U.S. 483, and it is
deemed appropriate to designate a memorial day to commemorate Earl
Warren as former Chief Justice of the United States for writing the
landmark decision that was unanimously adopted by the court and for
serving as an outstanding Governor of California; and
WHEREAS, Earl Warren was born March 19, 1891, in Los Angeles, and
was raised and educated in the public schools of Bakersfield while
delivering newspapers, groceries, and blocks of ice during grade
school. Later, in high school, at age 15, he worked 12 hours a day,
six days a week as a railway mechanic's helper and later as a call
boy who rounded up crews before the train departures, and at age 17,
as a brakeman on freight trains out of Bakersfield. All of these
boyhood tasks made him keenly aware of labor conditions and railroad
injuries; and
WHEREAS, After a brief law practice and service in World War I, he
served as an Assemblyman's assistant and clerk to the Assembly
Judiciary Committee Committee on Judiciary
; and
WHEREAS, He served honorably as Deputy City Attorney for the City
of Oakland from 1919 to 1920, Deputy District Attorney of Alameda
County from 1920 to 1925, and Alameda County District Attorney for 14
years, from 1925 to 1939. During that time, no case that Warren ever
tried was reversed by a higher court. He succeeded in cleaning up
graft and corruption in local public offices, hospitals, and county
jails, and illegal gambling. In 1930, he was reelected to a second
term by the largest majority for a district attorney in Alameda
County history; and
WHEREAS, Earl Warren earnestly introduced administrative reforms
for the office, revitalizing it to the extent that a prominent
national survey concluded that his office was the most efficient
district attorney's office in the country, and he was further
declared in 1934 "the best District Attorney in the United States";
and
WHEREAS, In 1938, Earl Warren won the Republican, Progressive, and
Democratic nominations for Attorney General, serving a four-year
term from 1939 to 1943. He reorganized the office for more powerful
responsibilities, helping to establish legal aid associations and a
public defender system, and winning $7,000,000 for California Native
Americans under the so-called "lost" 1851-52 treaties; and
WHEREAS, Earl Warren was elected president of the National
Association of Attorneys General in 1940; and
WHEREAS, As Attorney General, Earl Warren responded to requests by
the executive branch of the federal government to participate in the
internment of Japanese Americans in California; and
WHEREAS, Earl Warren has apologized in his memoirs for his
decisions related to the internment of Japanese Americans in this
state; and
WHEREAS, In his memoirs he stated, "I was conscience-stricken. It
was wrong to react so impulsively, without positive evidence of
disloyalty, even though we felt we had a good motive in the security
of our state. It demonstrates the cruelty of war when fear, get-tough
military psychology, propaganda, and racial antagonism combine with
one's responsibility for public security to produce such acts. I have
since deeply regretted the removal order and my own testimony
advocating it, because it was not in keeping with our American
concept of freedom and the rights of citizens"; and
WHEREAS, Earl Warren was elected Governor of California three
times with unprecedented bipartisan support in 1942, 1946, and 1950.
In January 1943, during the World War II years, Earl Warren led the
state with calmness and tolerance, initiating modern and progressive
programs that included raising pensions for old age assistance,
reforming workers' compensation, and expanding unemployment insurance
benefits for workers of small businesses to include widows and
children of killed workers. He provided more funds for poor school
districts, constructed more schools and hospitals than any Governor
in United States history, obtained more beaches and parks,
established child care centers for employed mothers, and created what
was formerly known as the Department of the Youth Authority in
California, which model was adopted by other states; and
WHEREAS, Earl Warren continually urged the Legislature to create a
Fair Employment Practices Commission, and enact legislation limiting
exorbitant interest rates suffered by wage earners and the poor; and
WHEREAS, In 1945, he made valiant attempts to have the Legislature
create a statewide mandatory health insurance program; and
WHEREAS, Earl Warren lived simply in the historic Governor's
Mansion at 16th and H Streets with his wife Nina and six children,
Virginia, Earl, Jr., Dorothy, Nina, Elizabeth, and Robert, having his
home number publicly listed in the telephone book. Their sole income
was his state salary, but he never deviated from his duties in
order to augment his modest state income; and
WHEREAS, Earl Warren walked Sacramento's streets daily, usually
from the Governor's Mansion to the Capitol, generally diverging from
his walk and wandering into a barbershop to wait for a haircut,
talking to gardeners, greeting secretaries and elevator operators,
and wearing a path on the greensward of State Office Building No. 1
when leaving his Capitol office to lunch at the Sutter Club or small
ethnic cafes; and
WHEREAS, In 1948, he was the vice presidential candidate on the
Republican ticket headed by Thomas E. Dewey; and
WHEREAS, On September 30, 1953, Dwight David Eisenhower, the 34th
President of the United States , announced that he was
nominating Earl Warren to be the 14th Chief Justice of the United
States Supreme Court, an interim appointment until the Senate could
confirm the nominee; and
WHEREAS, Earl Warren resigned as Governor on October 4, 1953, and
took two solemn oaths of office on October 5 in the Supreme Court
chamber, one before President Eisenhower; and
WHEREAS, On May 17, 1954, two months after Senate confirmation of
his permanent appointment, Earl Warren wrote the landmark opinion in
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, holding that segregated public
schools violated the 14th Amendment. "Separate educational
facilities," he wrote, "are inherently unequal." That decision, which
began a series of attacks on the Warren Court, later was extended to
public transportation, recreation, and other public areas, and has
struck down every different type of treatment on racial grounds that
had has come before the court,
including laws against interracial marriages; and
WHEREAS, Earl Warren, during his international travels on behalf
of the President and the judiciary, discovered that he was an
international celebrity who symbolized America as a humane nation in
many emerging countries due to his desegregation decisions; and
WHEREAS, Earl Warren lived to see his concepts of American society
accepted by most of the nation despite bitter and continuing
controversy. His appointment to the Supreme Court may historically be
the single most important executive act of President Eisenhower; and
WHEREAS, In recognition of the contributions made by Chief Justice
Earl Warren to the nation and our state, it would be a fitting
tribute to designate a memorial day in his honor; now, therefore, be
it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the
Assembly designates March 19, 2011, and each March 19 thereafter, as
Chief Justice Earl Warren Day; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
