‘Bird Battles Ignorant Mob’
Regarding the article by Kahrl on Rose Bird, and her now given defeat to come: It’s not an “Ignorant Mob” that intends to put an end to her “Above the Law” approach to her duties on California’s high court.
I’m not ignorant, nor a part of any mob. I’m just a sad lawyer, and bench officer (most of whom are too diffident to comment), who knows that the high court took a philosophical position against capital punishment. They’re not supposed to do that.
Thirty-two or 33 otherwise intelligent Superior Court judges could not have all misunderstood the law, and thereby committed reversible error in capital punishment cases. If the law becomes that difficult to understand, then it’s not law, because the point of law is to create an atmosphere of predictability in our lives.
There is nothing noble about her exit; just overdue and glorious. The only ignorant mob that may get its way in November is the Paul Gann salary and pension initiative. Hopefully, wiser minds will prevail there as well.
HAROLD M. STANLEY
Los Angeles
Stanley is court commissioner in East Los Angeles Municipal Court.
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