Byers, Janet

Biography

Rose Elizabeth Bird was the first woman ever to serve on the California Supreme Court. She came to California from New York in 1959. In 1965, she received her J.D. degree from the University of Calfiornia, Berkeley. After graduation, she was the first woman ever to clerk for the Chief Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court.

In 1966, she became the first woman hired as a deputy public defender in Santa Clara County. From 1972 to 1974 she taught at Stanford Law School, where she conducted clinical courses in criminal and consumer law. In January 1975, Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. appointed her to be the first woman to serve as Cabinet Secretary. She served as Secretary of the Agriculture and Services Agency until her appointment as Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, March 16, 1977.

In 1985 Californians to Defeat Rose Bird and other citizens' groups began a campaign to remove Rose Bird from the Supreme Court. She lost her seat in an election held in 1986.