Louis Harry Burke (January 4, 1905 – April 28, 1986) was an American lawyer who served as Associate Justice of the

Supreme Court 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 Sacra ...

from November 20, 1964, to November 30, 1974.

Early life and education

Burke was born in

Montebello, California Montebello (Italian for "Beautiful Mountain") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located just east of East Los Angeles and southwest of San Gabriel Valley. It is an independent city. east of downtown Los Angeles. It is ...

, to Joseph Burke (1870-1919) and Mie Anne Lucie Dion (April 13, 1881 – September 26, 1968), who had emigrated from

Quebec, Canada Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

, just prior to Louis' birth. Burke attended

Montebello High School Founded in 1909, Montebello High School is a public high school which is part of the Montebello Unified School District, and has an enrollment of approximately 2,600 students in grades 9-12. Its campus is located in Montebello, California, a subur ...

, received a

Ph.B. Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; la, Baccalaureus Philosophiae or ) is the title of an academic degree that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's ...

from

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...

, and

LL.B. 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

Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Catholic university in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Academics Degrees offered include the Juris Doctor (JD); Master of Science in Legal ...

in 1926.

Legal and judicial career

In 1927, Burke and his brother, Martin Joseph Burke (November 24, 1903 – October 4, 1997), with Thomas P. White, founded the firm of Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP, also in its history called Burke, Hickson, Burke & Marshall. Both Burke and White went on to serve as California Supreme Court justices. Burke was appointed Montebello city attorney in 1928, and also served as general counsel for the

League of California Cities The League of California Cities is an association of cities within the state of California, founded in 1898. Most of the state's 482 cities are represented in the league. The League publishes ''Western City'', a monthly magazine, and holds an annu ...

. In 1942, he ran unsuccessfully for election as

state attorney general The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney genera ...

against

Robert W. Kenny Robert Walker Kenny (August 21, 1901 – July 20, 1976), 21st Attorney General of California (1943-1947), was "a colorful figure in state politics for many years" who in 1946 ran unsuccessfully against Earl Warren for state governor (a race ...

. In 1942, he volunteered for the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. He served in the interim government and as a military judge in occupied Germany until his discharge from the Army in 1946. Returning to California, he served as chairman of the California Veterans Welfare Board, and in 1951 was appointed 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 ...

bench. In 1952, he issued an arrest warrant for

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

to compel her to testify in the divorce trial of her boyfriend,

Sid Luft Michael Sidney Luft (November 2, 1915 – September 15, 2005) was an American show business figure, the second husband of actress Lynn Bari, and later the third husband of actress and singer Judy Garland. Early life Luft was born in New Yor ...

, from his wife, the actress

Lynn Bari Lynn Bari (born Marjorie Schuyler Fisher, December 18, 1919 – November 20, 1989) was a film actress who specialized in playing sultry, statuesque man-killers in roughly 150 films for 20th Century Fox, from the early 1930s through the 1940s. ...

. In 1953, he was assigned to the Conciliation Court, where he fashioned a reconciliation agreement for couples. In 1958, he was appointed presiding judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, and published a book on divorce, ''With This Ring''. In 1961, Governor Edmund G. (Pat) Brown named Burke to the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

and to the Supreme Court in 1964. In 1966, he stood for election and was retained with 64.7% of the vote. In 1974, he stepped down from the bench. He continued to sit as a judge pro tem on the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and the Superior Courts. Among Burke's notable cases were those involving the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, including ''In re Anderson'' (1968), upholding the constitutionality of execution, followed by ''

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 ...

'' (1974), striking it down. Burke helped to create the National College for State Judges and its California counterpart; he served as chairman of the Section on Judicial Administration of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

and of the Appellate Judges' Conference; and was an officer of the

American Judicature Society The American Judicature Society (AJS) is an independent, non-partisan membership organization working nationally to protect the integrity of the American justice system. AJS's membership — including judges, lawyers, and members of the public — ...

. In 1970, Burke was considered for appointment to the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

and as a candidate for California chief justice.

Honors and awards

In 1961, Burke was awarded the St. Thomas More Award from the St. Thomas More Society. In 1962, Burke was recognized by the Southern California Chapter of the

American Society for Public Administration American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) is a membership association of almost 10,000 professionals in the United States sponsoring conferences and providing professional services primarily to those who study the implementation of gover ...

with The Earl Warren Outstanding Public Service Award.

Personal life

In 1933, Burke married Ruth Ann Horsfall (September 30, 1909 – October 10, 1997), and they had five children. The family lived in Montebello next to Burke's brother and law partner, Martin, and their mother, Lucie.Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA
Ancestry.com
Operations, Inc., 2011: Montebello, California, City Directory, 1950, p 7, entries for Louis H. Burke (140 North 21st Street), Lucie D. Burke (148 North 21st Street), and Martin J. Burke (134 North 21st Street); compare same addresses, 1940 U.S. Census, Montebello, Los Angeles, California; Roll: T627_238; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 19-860, accessed vi
Ancestry.com

References

Selected publications

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External links

Louis H. Burke
California Supreme Court Historical Society.
Louis H. Burke
California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Four.
Court opinions by Louis Burke
Courtlistener.com.

California State Courts. Retrieved July 19, 2017.