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how did such a liberal state get such a reasonable court?

I think in this case the Court would have to totally disregard the law in order toss the ballot initiative. Not that it has stopped them before.

how did such a liberal state get such a reasonable court?

We have had a series of Republican governors. Even though some have been "moderate" (Wilson, Schwarzengger, et al), they still have to keep the conservatives on the plantation to get the nomination. They do that mostly by appointing decent state supreme court justices (see: Janice Rogers Brown).

Well, for one thing the liberal state kicked three liberal judges off the court about fifteen years ago.

Rose Bird

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Rose Elizabeth Bird (November 2, 1936-December 4, 1999) served for 10 years as the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court until removed from that office by the voters. She was the first female Chief Justice of the Court, and the first to be removed from that office by a majority of the state's voters. California justices are selected by the governor but must be regularly reconfirmed by the electorate. Prior to becoming the first female Chief Justice in California, she was the first female law clerk in the Supreme Court of Nevada, the first female deputy public defender in Santa Clara County, and the first female to hold a cabinet-level job in California (as Secretary of Agriculture).

Bird was removed in the November 1986 election after a high-profile campaign which cited her categorical opposition to the death penalty. She had voted against the death penalty in every such case that came before her. This led Bird's opponents to claim that she was substituting her own opinions and ideas for the laws and precedents upon which judicial decisions are supposed to be made. The anti-Bird campaign ran compelling television commercials featuring the children of the victims of the murderers whose sentences Bird and her allies Cruz and Grodin had voted to reverse.

The campaign to oust Bird is considered a triumph for "social conservatives." However, the campaign was also supported by business interests who felt that California's legal system had become too anti-business) under prior chief justices like Roger J. Traynor, and Bird was compounding the liability crisis with opinions that were muddling previously-settled aspects of contract law.

Justices Cruz Reynoso and Joseph Grodin were also voted off at the same time, for their strident anti-death penalty stance. Veteran Justice Stanley Mosk was not challenged and remained on the court. As a result of the 1986 election, Governor George Deukmejian was able to appoint several conservative justices and move the court to a more consistent judicial philosophy.

Bird, who had no prior judical experience was originally appointed by former governor of California [[Jerry Brown. Brown later said he regretted his decision to appoint Bird. She died on December 4, 1999, of breast cancer, at the age of 63.