Marcus Kaufman

Marcus Maurice Kaufman (June 19, 1929 – March 26, 2003) served as the 103rd justice on the Supreme Court of California from March 18, 1987, until his retirement on January 31, 1990. Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Kaufman served for 17 years as an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Second Division.

Early life Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Kaufman moved with his family to Los Angeles, California, at a young age. He grew up in the Hollywood area, and developed an interest in law while in high school. He would later recall taking the bus to the L.A. Civic Center to watch federal court proceedings. After earning his bachelor's degree at UCLA, he served in the Korean War as an Army lieutenant.

Law career After returning home, Kaufman attended USC Law School where he was editor of the Southern California Law Review, and in 1956 graduated first in his class with Order of the Coif honors. He graduated in 1956 and from 1956 to 1957 served as a law clerk to then Associate Justice Roger J. Traynor. Kaufman began his career clerking in the same court to which he would eventually return as Justice. After a year of clerking, Kaufman joined the faculty of the University of Southern California Law Center. Years later, he had a very distinguished career in private practice in San Bernardino. He was expected to be among the most conservative members of the court. At times he lived up to this expectation: he joined the conservative majority in upholding the death penalty and wrote the majority opinion when the court allowed police to erect roadblocks in an effort to get drunk drivers off the road. Kaufman also wrote the majority opinion that allowed a corporate farm to restrict access of union organizers to worker camps on its property. But he sided with the liberal minority in dissenting on some important civil rulings: he opposed restricting wrongful-termination suits against employers and barring the use of state antitrust laws against corporate mergers. In another case, he joined with liberal justices to uphold the right of criminal defendants to gain access to confidential police brutality complaints. In 1995, he joined the newly formed Albert, Weiland & Golden in Costa Mesa, California, where he was of counsel and did consulting work on appeals.

Declining health and death Kaufman died of renal failure on March 26, 2003, at the age of 73 after several years of poor health. A son, Joel, died in 1977.

In facing death, Kaufman told his family that one can live on after death. To this end, he wrote the following: "Ideas, values and ideals do not perish with the mind that conceived them or the life that exemplified them. They live on and play a part in the lives of those to whom they have been transmitted. And so people live on after death in the ideas, values and ideals they transmitted during their lives, which often continue to grow and spread even after death."

Marcus Kaufman Jurisprudence Award- Presented by the Anti-Defamation League of Orange County/Long Beach in memory of Kaufman for his exceptional work and commitment both to the legal community and to the Orange County Judiciary.