Donald Richard Wright (February 2, 1907 – March 21, 1985) was the 24th

Chief Justice of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

Biography

Born in

Placentia, California Placentia () is a city in northern Orange County, California. The population was 51,233 during the 2020 census, up from 46,488 in the 2000 census. This includes the community of Atwood, which is included in the city of Placentia, and is loca ...

, Wright earned his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1929 and his

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1932. Admitted to the California State Bar in 1933, he worked in private practice at the law firm of Barrick, Poole & Knox in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

until 1953, except for 1942–1946 when he served as a

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in the U.S. Army Air Forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1953,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitution ...

appointed Wright to the Los Angeles Municipal Court, where he served until 1961 when he was elected to the

Los Angeles County Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The ...

. In June 1968, Sirhan B. Sirhan appeared in court for arraignment on the charge of first-degree murder of

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

, and Wright as presiding judge assigned a public defender to the case. In 1968, Wright left the Superior Court when Governor

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

appointed him as an associate justice of California Second District Court of Appeal, Division Two. In 1970, Reagan appointed Wright as the 24th

, where he served from April 17, 1970, until his retirement on February 1, 1977. In the November 1970 judicial retention elections, Wright received 80.6% of the vote. When Wright stepped down, Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

named

Rose Bird Rose Elizabeth Bird (November 2, 1936 – December 4, 1999) was the 25th Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. Her career was marked by firsts. She was the first female clerk of the Nevada Supreme Court, the first female deputy publ ...

as Wright's replacement. Among Wright's most notable cases was ''

People v. Anderson ''The People of the State of California v. Robert Page Anderson'', 493 P.2d 880, 6 Cal. 3d 628 ( Cal. 1972), was a landmark case in the state of California that outlawed capital punishment for nine months until the enactment of a constitutional ...

'' (1972), striking down the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment, and in violation of the state constitution. In another opinion, ''Vesely v. Sager'' (1971), he crafted the doctrine of host liability for a provider of alcohol to someone who later injures another. On March 21, 1985, Wright died in Pasadena.

Honors and legacy

In 1971, the University of the Pacific conferred on him a LL.D. (honorary). In 1972, the California Trial Lawyers Association named Wright the Appellate Judge of the Year. In 1977, the Orange County Bar Association awarded him the Judge Franklin G. West Award. The Pasadena Bar Association annually awards the Donald R. Wright Distinguished Service Award for contributions to law and society. His papers are held at the

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Mar ...

San Marino, California San Marino is a residential city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It was incorporated on April 25, 1913. At the 2010 census the population was 13,147. The city is one of the wealthiest places in the nation in terms of househol ...

Personal life

In 1932, Wright married Margaret W. McLellan.

References

External links

Biography from the California Second District Court of Appeal
Retrieved July 11, 2017.
Donald R. Wright
California Supreme Court Historical Society. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
Opinions authored by Donald Wright
Courtlistener.com. Retrieved July 11, 2017.

California State Courts. Retrieved July 19, 2017.

Biography

Honors and legacy

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links

See also