Malcolm Millar Lucas (April 19, 1927 – September 28, 2016) was an American jurist and attorney who served as the 26th

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 ...

. He previously served as a trial judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court and

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a Federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California, ...

Education and career

Born in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, Lucas earned a

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 year ...

degree from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

in 1950 and a

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 Ch ...

from the

USC Gould School of Law The USC Gould School of Law, located in Los Angeles, California, is the law school of the University of Southern California. The oldest law school in the Southwestern United States, USC Law traces its beginnings to 1896 and became affiliated w ...

in 1953. From 1954 to 1967, he was in private practice in

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, California. He practiced law with future Governor of California

George Deukmejian Courken George Deukmejian Jr. (; June 6, 1928 – May 8, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of California from 1983 to 1991. Of Armenian descent, Deukmejian was a member of the Republican Party and he also served ...

. From 1967 to 1971, he was a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. In February 1970, Lucas was the trial judge in the prosecution of Charles Manson for the murder of actress Sharon Tate, which continued through January 1971. In June 1970, Lucas had Manson removed from the courtroom due to his disruptive behavior.

United States District Court

On July 8, 1971, President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

nominated Lucas to a new seat on the

(based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

) created by 84 Stat. 294. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on July 29, 1971, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on April 6, 1984, due to his resignation. In April 1975, Lucas sat as trial judge in the complex

Equity Funding Equity Funding Corporation of America was a Los Angeles-based U.S. financial conglomerate that marketed a package of mutual funds and life insurance to private individuals in the 1960s and 70s. It collapsed in scandal in 1973 after former employee R ...

civil litigation, brought after a $3 billion fraud by executives at a life insurance company.

California Supreme Court

appointed Lucas to the Supreme Court of California in 1984. He replaced Frank K. Richardson, former Governor Ronald Reagan's only remaining appointee on the Court. In November 1986, Lucas was retained by the voters. However, Chief Justice Bird and two other liberal justices were not. After Bird lost her retention election, Deukmejian announced on November 26, 1986 that he would elevate then-Associate Justice Lucas to the position of chief justice. Deukmejian then announced the appointment of three new conservative Associate Justices,

David Eagleson David Newton Eagleson (October 4, 1924 – May 23, 2003) was an American lawyer who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California from 1987 to 1991. Biography Eagleson was born in Los Angeles, California, and educated in the p ...

, John Arguelles, and

Marcus Kaufman Marcus Maurice Kaufman (June 19, 1929 – March 26, 2003) served as the 103rd justice on the Supreme Court of California from March 18, 1987 until his retirement on January 31, 1990. Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Kauf ...

, thereby creating the first conservative majority on the Court in several decades.

Tenure

The decisions of the Lucas Court were pro-business, affirmed death penalty sentences imposed by the trial courts, and tended to adhere to the

textualist Textualism is a formalist theory in which the interpretation of the law is primarily based on the ordinary meaning of the legal text, where no consideration is given to non-textual sources, such as intention of the law when passed, th ...

approach. In matters of criminal law, the Lucas Court's interpretation of the law favored the government more than that of the Bird court. The Lucas court also reversed several pro-plaintiff landmark decisions in the context of tort law and insurance law. In 1988, Lucas implemented a practice that the justices produce opinions within 90 days of oral arguments. In September 1989, Chief Justice Lucas delivered the "State of the Judiciary" address to the State Bar of California annual meeting in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

Personal life

On June 23, 1956, Lucas married Donna J. Fisher in Los Angeles.

Retirement and death

On October 1, 1995, he announced he would retire in May 1996 to spend more time with his family. After retiring from the Court, Lucas went back into private practice and became an arbitrator for JAMS in

. Lucas died on September 28, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. He was 89.

References

Photos and video

Photo of Judges Malcolm M. Lucas
and Thomas Reavley, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, presiding at Pepperdine University's 11th annual moot court competition, 1985. UCLA Libraries. *

External links

* *
Malcolm M. Lucas
California Supreme Court Historical Society.
Court opinions authored by Malcolm M. Lucas
Courtlistener.com.

California State Courts. Retrieved July 19, 2017.