Campaign Support From Bradley Would Be Welcome, Grodin Says

California Supreme Court Justice Joseph R. Grodin said Friday he would have welcomed Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley’s endorsement and indicated surprise that Bradley has not extended his support to him and other members of the court who are fighting for reelection in November.

“I would be happy to have his support,” Grodin said referring to Bradley during the taping of a KNBC “News Conference Sunday” program scheduled to air this weekend. Grodin said he did not think it would be wrong for Bradley, who is the Democratic candidate for governor, to speak out on behalf of justices seeking reelection to the court.

“I think that the nature of the attack on the court by the opponents is such that I would have expected to see widespread indignation and I would have expected to see support for the court,” Grodin told a reporter after the taping was concluded. “It seems to me that the principles involved in the election would have justified anyone coming out for the whole court,” he said.

Bradley, in one of the most politically charged decisions of his campaign, announced last March that he would take no position on the court election, saying he was basing his decision on the principle that partisan politics should be kept separate from the judiciary.

Bradley made his decision at a time when his opponent, Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, repeatedly was challenging him to take a stand on the court election. Bradley was also being urged by top aides to oppose Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird whom he had supported in a previous court election.

Bradley’s aides feared that the controversial chief justice’s unpopularity with many voters could hurt Bradley’s election chances if he endorsed her this year.

No Position

In the end, Bradley declined to take a position on any of the six Supreme Court justices up for election in November, but he was harshly critical of Deukmejian’s attacks on Bird, Grodin and Justice Cruz Reynoso, the three justices who are being opposed by conservative groups around the state.

Bradley was not available for comment Friday, but Tom Quinn, his campaign chairman, said he doubted that Grodin’s comments would cause Bradley to change his position.

“He made his position clear a number of months ago, and I wouldn’t expect a change,” Quinn said.

A month before Bradley stated his position on the justices, Bird, in a televised interview, said she would appreciate it if politicians did not endorse her.

Misrepresentation

Grodin, on the other hand, said Friday he hoped politicians would, at least, speak out against the tactics employed by his opponents.

Throughout his campaign, Grodin has accused them of misrepresenting his record, holding him responsible for opinions written before he came to the court, and of making misleading statements about opinions he has written.

He said Friday that the opponents have wrongly characterized him, Bird and Reynoso as a liberal bloc, when, he maintained, “I vote as often with the other justices on the court.”

Moreover, he said that the opposition, which focuses mainly on the court’s many decisions overturning the death penalty, has offered a false view of the court’s role in reviewing death sentences.

“Although it is often presented that way, it is not the court’s duty to decide whether a defendant should receive the death sentence,” he said. “Rather, it is our job to determine whether the defendant has received a fair trial.”