The Great Dissents of the "Lone Dissenter"

by Oppenheimer, David B.; Brotsky, Allan

• ISBN13: 9781594608100
• ISBN10: 1594608105
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-05-01
• Publisher: Carolina Academic Press

Summary

"Jesse Carter's Position On The Frontier Of Legal Change Is Clearly Discernible, And Quite Remarkable... Shortly Before Carter's Death In 1959, He Expressed The Hope That 'A Hundred Years After I Am Dead And Forgotten, Men Will Be Moving To The Measure Of My Thought.' I Wouldn't Want To Bet Against It."-Joseph R. Grodin, Associate Justice (Ret.), California Supreme Court

"Jesse Carter's Life Would Be Unimaginable In This Century. He Was Born In A Log Cabin, Had Only A Few Years Of Formal Education, Yet Rose To Justice Of The Highest Court In California, Where He Showed Unlimited Courage And Unparalleled Confidence In His Own Ideas, Though Most Were Far Ahead Of His Time. It's A Fascinating Story Of A True Western Character ù A Legal Page Turner."ùBarbara Babcock, Judge John Crown Professor Of Law, Emerita, Stanford Law School, Author Of Woman Lawyer: The Trials Of Clara Foltz (Forthcoming 2010; Stanford U. Press)

Jesse W. Carter served as a justice on the California Supreme Court from 1939-1959, where lie was known as "The Lone Dissenter" because He wrote so many solo dissents. Many of these opinions were in passionate defense of civil rights, civil liberties, and the rights of labor, criminal defendants, and personal injury victims. Several of the cases were reversed by the United States Supreme Court, or by later decisions of the California Supreme Court, adopting Justice Carter's reasoning. This book combines essays on several of those dissents, written by faculty and friends of Golden Gate University School of Law, where Carter earned his law degree in 1913, as well as an essay on the role of dissenting opinions by another great dissenter, Justice William Brennan.

David Benjamin Oppenheimer is Clinical Professor of Law and Director of Professional Skills at LTC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). He previously served as Professor of Law and Associate Dean at Golden Gate University School of Law. He is a graduate of the University Without Walls (Berkeley) and Harvard Law School. Professor Oppenheimer has published articles on employment discrimination law, civil rights legal history, and comparative anti-discrimination law in leading law reviews in the United States and Europe. His co-authored book, Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society (with M. Brown, M. Carnoy, E. Currie, T. Duster, M. Shultz & D. Wellman) (University of California Press 2003) won the 2004 Benjamin L. Hooks outstanding book award. He is the general editor of Prometheus Books' Bill of Rights series.

Professor Allan Brotsky is a Professor of Law Emeritus at Golden Gate University School of Law. He is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles and Columbia University School of Law. After serving in the armed forces during World War II, he began a San Francisco practice that spanned over 60 years, as a leading labor and civil rights lawyer. He is the recipient of numerous awards and commendations, including the National - Lawyer's Guild Achievement Award and the Allan Brotsky Pro Bono Award.

Author Biography

David Oppenheimer is a professor at UC Berkeley School of Law. Allan Brotsky is an emeritus professor at Golden Gate University School of Law.