Sep. 16, 2014

California Supreme Court justices don costumes, take to the stage

U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns, left, state Supreme Court Justice Marvin R. Baxter, and Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye perform, in costume, a play about the colorful career and shooting death of Chief Justice David S. Terry in 1889. The play, by Richard H. Rahm of Littler Mendelson PC, a leader in the California Supreme Court Historical Society, described Terry's arrest and trial at the hands of San Francisco vigilantes, his defense of the putative wife of a rich Nevada senator, his death at the hands of a U.S. marshal guarding the life of a federal judge and the murder case against the marshal. Called "The Life of Chief Justice David S. Terry and Federalism," the play drew a sell-out crowd of about 750 during the State Bar Annual Meeting in San Diego on Friday. Baxter portrayed Terry, while Cantil-Sakauye played the wife, who later married her lawyer Terry. Also in the play were Supreme Court justices Ming Chin, Carol A. Corrigan and Goodwin Liu. Rahm and State Bar CEO Joseph L. Dunn narrated.