Bird Should Not Resign From Supreme Court

I, too, share Del Olmo’s concern that there appears to be an organized effort by many groups to politicize the California Supreme Court and to oust various members, especially Chief Justice Bird, who choose to review cases based on the evidence and limitations set forth in our Constitution and state statutes rather than be influenced by politicians, special interests or fluctuating public opinion.

It is a credit to our state as a whole and to our judiciary in particular that we finally have a woman, a Latino and a black on the Supreme Court who are extremely well qualified judges and who are representative of the diversity of California’s populace.

Del Olmo’s suggestion that Rose Bird resign from her history-making appointment as the first female chief justice is a divisive tactic that plays into the hands of those groups who want to control the Supreme Court. Pitting women against minorities should be an unacceptable strategy.

Women in the judiciary have long been a minority, even though women comprise a majority of the population of California, and to suggest that the only female representative of the California Supreme Court resign in favor of a male minority member is discriminatory and sexist.

It is quite apparent that what should be done by those concerned with the threat to politicize our courts is to join hands in a unified effort to retain all the justices who will be on the ballot in 1986.

The time has long passed that women take a back seat to men simply because of their sex. Chief Justice Bird has been and continues to be a role model for women and young girls just as Justice Cruz Reynoso has been a role model to the Latino community. Neither Chief Justice Rose Bird nor Justice Reynoso should resign. Both should be reelected.

GLORIA R. ALLRED

Los Angeles