Cruz Reynoso

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Cruz Reynoso (born May 2, 1931) was the first Hispanic person to serve on the California Supreme Court. He served as an associate justice from 1982 to 1987. Along with two other liberal members of the Court, Chief Justice Rose Bird and Associate Justice Joseph Grodin, he was ousted by voters in 1986 under California's unusual judicial-retention election system.

Reynoso was born in Brea, California, and grew up as one of 11 children, and was an agricultural worker in fruit orchards. His father was a farm worker. He graduated from Pomona College in 1953 and Boalt Hall in 1958. He served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955.

Reynoso began his career in private law practice in El Centro, California. He served as a legislative assistant in the California State Senate in 1959 and 1960, and was appointed deputy director of the California Fair Employment Practices Commission in 1965. He then served as director of California Rural Legal Assistance and was Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico. Reynoso was appointed to the California Court of Appeal in 1976. In 1982 he was appointed to the California Supreme Court by Governor Jerry Brown.

On the Court, Reynoso formed part of the Bird Court's liberal majority, and extended additional protections for the environment, individual liberties, and civil rights. Like Bird, however, Reynoso often voted to overturn death penalty sentences and convictions, and this issue was brought to the forefront in the 1986 judicial-retention election. Bird, Grodin, and Reynoso were rejected by the voters, dramatically changing the face of the Court.

After leaving the Court, Reynoso returned to private law practice and academia. In 1991, he joined the faculty of the UCLA School of Law as a professor. He served as the vice-chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In 2000, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States's highest civilian honor. Cruz Reynoso joined the faculty at the UC Davis School of Law, where he holds the Boochever and Bird Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality.