Wright, Donald R. (Donald Richard), 1907-1985

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Born in Placentia, California on February 7, 1907, Donald R. Wright attended some of the nation's top institutions of learning on his path to becoming a prominent California lawyer and judge. After graduating from Stanford University in 1929, Wright went on to study law at Harvard, where he graduated in 1932. He passed the California bar exam in June 1933 and immediately began work for Barrick, Pool, and Knox, a Pasadena law firm, with whom he worked for the next twenty years. Wright's only respite from law came during the Second World War, while he served as an U.S. Army Air Force intelligence officer in Alaska. In 1953, California Governor Earl Warren appointed Wright to Pasadena district judge. In 1961, Los Angeles voters elected Wright to serve as a judge on the county's Superior Court, a position which he served for seven years until 1968, when Governor Ronald Reagan appointed Wright to position of Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal. Wright only served in this capacity for two years before Reagan appointed him Chief Justice of the California State Supreme Court. In this position, Wright took positions counter to the wishes of his political allies, most notably his opinion striking down the death penalty in 1972 and when voters reinstated it by initiative in 1976, striking it down again. Repulsed at his stance, Reagan openly lamented ever appointing Wright to the post. Other accomplishments of the Wright court included expanding the definitions of illegally obtained evidence for criminal cases, and the prevention of police from surreptitiously posing as students in college classes to root out supposedly dissident professors. Wright retired from the court in 1977 and died at his home in Pasadena on March 21, 1985.

From the description of Papers of Donald R. Wright, 1933-1977 (bulk 1970-1977) (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 423385898

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Wright, Donald R. (Donald Richard), 1907-1985. Opinions / Justice Donald R. Wright, 1969-1977 Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens
referencedIn Boy Scouts of America. Old Hickory Council Records, 1912-2001 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection
referencedIn Catalogue II of the Regional Oral History Office, 1980-1997 Bancroft Library
referencedIn Monterey Public Library. California History Room. Distinguished visitors clippings 1903-2007 Monterey Public Library
creatorOf Wright, Donald R. (Donald Richard), 1907-. Papers of Donald R. Wright, 1933-1977 (bulk 1970-1977) Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens
creatorOf Wright, Donald R. (Donald Richard), 1907-1985. Donald R. Wright scrapbooks covering his judicial career, 1953-1977, 1970-1977 Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith American Bar Association. corporateBody
associatedWith Bancroft Library. Regional Oral History Office corporateBody
associatedWith Boy Scouts of America. Old Hickory Council. corporateBody
associatedWith Brown, Edmund G. (Edmund Gerald), 1905-1996. person
associatedWith Burger, Warren E., 1907-1995. person
associatedWith California Bar Association. corporateBody
associatedWith California. Court of Appeal (2nd District) corporateBody
associatedWith California. Judicial Council. corporateBody
associatedWith California. Superior Court (Los Angeles County) corporateBody
associatedWith California. Supreme Court. corporateBody
associatedWith Conference of Circuit Chiefs. corporateBody
associatedWith Cranston, Alan MacGregor, person
associatedWith Douglas, William O. (William Orville), 1898-1980. person
associatedWith Gore, Albert, 1948-. person
associatedWith Harvard Law School. corporateBody
associatedWith Hastings College of Law. corporateBody
associatedWith Manson, Charles, 1934-. person
associatedWith McGeorge School of Law. corporateBody
associatedWith Monterey Public Library. California History Room. corporateBody
associatedWith National Center for State Courts. corporateBody
associatedWith Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994. person
associatedWith Pasadena Unified School District. corporateBody
associatedWith Reagan, Ronald. person
associatedWith Salvation Army. corporateBody
associatedWith United Nations. corporateBody
associatedWith United States. preme Court. corporateBody
associatedWith Wapner, Joseph A. person
associatedWith Warren, Earl, 1891-1974. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
California
United States
California
California
Los Angeles (Calif.)
Subject
Justice, Administration of
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Capital punishment
Elections
Judges
Judicial process
Municipal courts
Presidents
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1907-02-02

Death 1985-03-21

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