- Joyce L. Kennard
Joyce Luther Kennard (b.
May 6 ,1941 ) is an Associate Justice of theSupreme Court of California . Born in a Japanese concentration camp in the province ofWest Java inIndonesia , English is not her native language; she speaks it with a slight Dutch accent. Appointed by GovernorGeorge Deukmejian in 1989 she is the longest-serving justice sitting on the Court, having been retained by California's voters three times--to fill the unexpired term in in 1990, and to twelve-year terms in 1994 and 2006.Kennard immigrated to
Los Angeles in 1961. In 1974, she graduated with aJuris Doctor from theGould School of Law at theUniversity of Southern California , where she also earned aBachelor's Degree in German and aMaster of Public Administration . Born to a family of modest means, Kennard worked as a secretary to pay for her education.After graduating from law school, Kennard's rise within the California court system was and is often described as, "meteoric." Appointed to the
Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1986, Kennard was elevated in 1987 to theCalifornia Superior Court and elevated again, in 1988, to theCalifornia Court of Appeal . Finally, in 1989, GovernorGeorge Deukmejian appointed her to the California Supreme Court. Upon taking her oath, Kennard became the second woman and the first Asian American to serve as a justice on the Court.During her time on the bench, Kennard has authored numerous high-profile opinions, the best-known of which is "
Kasky v. Nike " (2002) 27 Cal. 4th 939. In that case, the California Supreme Court held that Nike could not claim aFirst Amendment "commercial free speech" defense when charged with lying aboutsweatshop conditions in its overseas manufacturing plants. TheU.S. Supreme Court grantedcertiorari , apparently Fact|date=May 2008 at the urging of JusticeAnthony Kennedy , who wanted to reverseFact|date=May 2008. Harvard ProfessorLaurence Tribe , who had criticized the California Supreme Court's decision, represented Nike. But ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to render an opinion, instead letting the California Supreme Court's decision stand.Kennard has a reputation for aggressive questioning during oral argumentFact|date=May 2008. She does not hesitate to ask long and complicated questions--often speaking for minutes at a time before prompting an attorney to respond. Like her retired counterpart from the
Supreme Court of the United States , JusticeSandra Day O'Connor , Kennard often asks the first question in a given case.Her leg having been amputated when she was a teenager, Kennard walks with the help of a
prosthesis .In 1999, the "
San Francisco Chronicle " reported Kennard was pulled over by theCalifornia Highway Patrol after one of her tires suddenly flattened, causing her car to shimmy. She was not charged with an offense.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.