Marshall F. McComb

California Supreme Court Justice Marshall F. McComb (right) swearing in Ronald Reagan (left) as Governor of California

Marshall F. McComb (May 6, 1894 – September 5, 1981) was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California from 1955 to 1977.^[1]

Education and early career

Born in Denver, Colorado, McComb earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in 1917, Bachelor of Laws degree from Yale Law School in 1919, and Doctor of Laws degree from Loyola Law School in 1936.^[1] He was admitted to the California bar in February 1920, then from 1920 to 1927 was a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles.^[1]

In 1927, Governor C. C. Young appointed McComb a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge, where he served until 1937 when Governor Frank Merriam elevated him to an Associate Justiceship on the California Second District Court of Appeal, Division Two, where he served from 1937 to 1955.^[1]

California Supreme Court

Governor Goodwin Knight named McComb an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, where McComb served from 1956 to 1977.^[1] For much of his career on the state high court, McComb formed the core of its conservative wing and often dissented from the liberal majority's opinions.^[2] In 1967, McComb swore in Ronald Reagan to the latter's first term as Governor of California.^[3]

In 1968, McComb joined the dissenting opinion of Justice Louis H. Burke in Dillon v. Legg, in which the Court's majority established the tort of negligent infliction of emotional distress; Burke and McComb argued that the majority ruling opened up defendants to "potentially infinite liability beyond any rational relationship to their culpability."^[4]

In the 1972 case California v. Anderson, in which the majority ruled 6–1 that the death penalty was unconstitutional, McComb was the lone dissenter, arguing that the death penalty deterred crime, noting numerous Supreme precedents upholding the death penalty's constitutionality (including 11 in the prior three and a half years), and stating that the legislative and initiative processes were the only appropriate avenues to determine whether the death penalty should be allowed.^[5] The majority's decision spared the lives of 105 death row inmates, including Sirhan Sirhan, assassin of Robert F. Kennedy, and serial killer Charles Manson.^[6] McComb was so upset about the Anderson decision that he walked out of the courtroom.^[7] Nine months later, the people of California would pass Proposition 17 by a 2–1 margin, reinstating the death penalty as an option for all prosecutions that took place after the adoption of Proposition 17.^[8]

In 1976, McComb joined Justice William P. Clark, Jr.'s dissenting opinion in Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, as McComb and Clark argued that doctor-patient confidentiality was "essential to effectively treat the mentally ill, and that imposing a duty on doctors to disclose patient threats to potential victims would greatly impair treatment" while the majority held that mental health professionals have a duty to protect individuals who are being threatened with bodily harm by a patient.^[9]

McComb did join the 1976 court majority in Marvin v. Marvin, in which the court ruled that although California does not recognize common-law marriage, people who cohabitate for long periods of time and commingle their assets are allowed to plead and prove marriage-like contracts for support and division of property.^[10]

McComb's distinguished judicial career had a rather ignominious end. On May 2, 1977, a panel of Court of Appeal justices, sitting as an acting Supreme Court, forced McComb into retirement by affirming a state Commission on Judicial Performance decision that McComb had senile dementia and was no longer able to carry out his judicial duties.^[11]

Personal

In 1981, McComb died in Los Angeles.^[1] His widow, Margaret G. McComb, would live for another 22 years, dying on November 4, 2003.^[12] In 2005, the McComb Foundation established the Justice Marshall F. McComb Professorship at Southwestern Law School.^[13]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Marshall F. McComb". Judicial Council of California. http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/courtsofappeal/2ndDistrict/justices/former/McCombM.pdf. 
2. ^ "The Law:Zzzz". TIME Magazine. November 15, 1976. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,712323,00.html. 
3. ^ "Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, National Archives and Record Administration". National Archives and Record Administration/University of Texas at Austin. http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/photographs/history.html. Retrieved January 26, 2011. 
4. ^ Dillon v. Legg, 68 Cal. 2d 728 (Cal. 1968).
5. ^ People v. Anderson, 6 Cal. 3d 628 (Cal. 1972).
6. ^ Associated Press (February 18, 1972). "California Court Bars Death Penalty". Milwaukee Journal. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HjYdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mCgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2757,4581152&dq=marshall+mccomb+sirhan+manson&hl=en. 
7. ^ United Press International (February 18, 1972). "Dissenter Is Upset, Walks Out of Court". Modesto Bee. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=F4kjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OIUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2269,598351&dq=marshall+mccomb&hl=en. 
8. ^ Associated Press (November 23, 1972). "Voters favor death penalty-what now?". Telegraph Herald. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SXVFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=p7wMAAAAIBAJ&pg=7143,4050496&dq=proposition+17&hl=en. 
9. ^ Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 9 Cal. 3d 425 (Cal. 1976).
10. ^ Marvin v. Marvin, 18 Cal. 3d 660 (Cal. 1976).
11. ^ McComb v. Commission on Judicial Performance, 19 Cal. 3d (Spec. Trib. Supp.) 1, 138 Cal. Rptr. 459, 564 P.2d 1 (1977).
12. ^ "McComb, Margaret G.". San Francisco Chronicle. November 8, 2003. http://articles.sfgate.com/2003-11-08/news/17515650_1_martyrs-catholic-church-manhattan-street. 
13. ^ "Southwestern Law School — Professorship Funds". Southwestern Law School. http://www.swlaw.edu/supportsw/professorship_funds. Retrieved January 26, 2011. 

Legal offices
Preceded by Douglas L. Edmonds	Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court January 1956 – May 1977	Succeeded by Frank C. Newman
Preceded by Gavin W. Craig	Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal Second District, Division Two March 13, 1937 – December 31, 1955	Succeeded by Allen W. Ashburn

Persondata
Name	Maccomb, Marshall F.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 6, 1894
Place of birth
Date of death	September 5, 1981
Place of death