Marshall F. McComb

Marshall Francis McComb (May 6, 1894 – September 5, 1981) was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California from January 1956 to May 2, 1977.

Marshall F. McComb
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California
In office
January 1956 – May 2, 1977
Appointed byGovernor Goodwin Knight
Preceded byDouglas L. Edmonds
Succeeded byFrank C. Newman
Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second District
In office
March 13, 1937 – January 1956
Appointed byGovernor Frank Merriam
Personal details
Born
Marshall Francis McComb

(1894-05-06)May 6, 1894
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
DiedSeptember 5, 1981(1981-09-05) (aged 87)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Agnes I. Taylor
​
(m. 1921)​

Kendra K. Hamilton
​
(m. 1930)​

Margaret G. McComb
Alma materStanford University (B.A.)
Yale Law School (LL.B.)

Education and early career

Born in Denver, Colorado, to Harry McComb and Estelle Tredenick, McComb's family moved to Kingman, Arizona. Then, McComb's family moved to California, and he graduated high school in Los Angeles.[1] In 1917, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University. On November 24, 1917, during World War I, he was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy.[2] After his discharge, he resumed his studies and received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Yale Law School cum laude in 1919.[3][4] In February 1920, he was admitted to the California Bar, then was a Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1920 to 1927.[5][6]

In 1927, California Governor C. C. Young appointed McComb a Judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, where he served until March 1937. Then, Governor Frank Merriam elevated McComb to the California Court of Appeal for the Second District as an Associate Justice in Division Two, where he served from March 13, 1937 to January 1956.[6]

On February 18, 1932, both McComb and fellow future justice B. Rey Schauer were commissioned as officers in the United States Naval Reserve.[7]

California Supreme Court
McComb swearing in Ronald Reagan as Governor of California in 1967

In 1955, Governor Goodwin Knight appointed McComb to the Supreme Court of California as an Associate Justice, where he served from January 1956 to May 2, 1977.[6] For much of his career there, McComb formed the core of its conservative wing and often dissented from the liberal majority's opinions.[8] In 1967, McComb swore in Ronald Reagan to the latter's first term as Governor of California.[9][10]

In 1968, McComb joined the dissenting opinion of Justice Louis H. Burke in Dillon v. Legg, in which the Court's majority established the tort of negligent infliction of emotional distress; Burke and McComb argued that the majority ruling opened up defendants to "potentially infinite liability beyond any rational relationship to their culpability."[11]

In the 1972 case California v. Anderson, in which the majority ruled 6–1 that the death penalty was unconstitutional, McComb was the lone dissenter, arguing that the death penalty deterred crime, noting numerous Supreme precedents upholding the death penalty's constitutionality (including 11 in the prior three and a half years), and stating that the legislative and initiative processes were the only appropriate avenues to determine whether the death penalty should be allowed.[12] The majority's decision spared the lives of 105 death row inmates, including Sirhan Sirhan, assassin of Robert F. Kennedy, and serial killer Charles Manson.[13] McComb was so upset about the Anderson decision that he walked out of the courtroom.[14] Nine months later, the people of California would pass Proposition 17 by a 2–1 margin, reinstating the death penalty as an option for all prosecutions that took place after the adoption of Proposition 17.[15]

In 1976, McComb joined Justice William P. Clark, Jr.'s dissenting opinion in Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, as McComb and Clark argued that doctor-patient confidentiality was "essential to effectively treat the mentally ill, and that imposing a duty on doctors to disclose patient threats to potential victims would greatly impair treatment" while the majority held that mental health professionals have a duty to protect individuals who are being threatened with bodily harm by a patient.[16]

McComb did join the 1976 court majority in Marvin v. Marvin, in which the court ruled that although California does not recognize common-law marriage, people who cohabitate for long periods of time and commingle their assets are allowed to plead and prove marriage-like contracts for support and division of property.[17]

McComb's distinguished judicial career had a rather sad end. On May 2, 1977, a panel of Court of Appeal justices, sitting as an acting Supreme Court, forced McComb into retirement by affirming a state Commission on Judicial Performance decision that McComb had senile dementia and was no longer able to carry out his judicial duties.[18][19][20] In 1981, McComb died in Los Angeles and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[6][21][22]

Honors and awards

In 1936, McComb was awarded a Doctor of Laws degree from Loyola Law School. In 2005, the McComb Foundation established the Justice Marshall F. McComb Professorship at Southwestern Law School.[23][24]

Personal life

On August 22, 1921, McComb first married Agnes I. Taylor (Challinor), a widow.[25][26] They had a daughter, Martha Estelle McComb (Mullin), who graduated from Stanford University in 1944.[27] After McComb and his first wife divorced, on March 22, 1930, he remarried to Kendra K. Hamilton in Yuma, Arizona. He later married Margaret G. McComb, who lived for another 22 years after his death, dying on November 4, 2003.[28]

References
  1. Bench and Bar of Los Angeles County. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Daily Journal. 1922. p. 26. Retrieved September 22, 2017. Entry for Marshall F. McComb.
  2. "Receive Word Ensign McComb Safe in N.Y." Los Angeles Herald (70). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 22 January 1919. p. 4. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  3. Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Yale University. New Haven, CT: Yale University. 1917. p. 863. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  4. Yale University Catalogue. New Haven, CT: Yale University. 1919. p. 510. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  5. University of California Register, Volume 2. Los Angeles, CA: University of California. 1922. p. 71. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  6. "Marshall F. McComb" (PDF). Judicial Council of California.
  7. "Pfefferkorn Navy Day Chairman". Coronado Citizen (52). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 24 October 1941. p. 1. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  8. "The Law:Zzzz". TIME Magazine. November 15, 1976.
  9. "Reagan Asks Associate To Administer Oath". Desert Sun (108). California Digital Newspaper Collection. UPI. 8 December 1966. p. 3. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  10. "Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, National Archives and Record Administration". National Archives and Records Administration/University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
  11. Dillon v. Legg, 68 Cal. 2d 728 (Cal. 1968).
  12. People v. Anderson, 6 Cal. 3d 628 (Cal. 1972).
  13. "State Supreme Court Abolishes Death Penalty". Desert Sun. California Digital Newspaper Collection. UPI. February 18, 1972. p. 1. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  14. United Press International (February 18, 1972). "Dissenter Is Upset, Walks Out of Court". Modesto Bee.
  15. Associated Press (November 23, 1972). "Voters favor death penalty-what now?". Telegraph Herald.
  16. Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 9 Cal. 3d 425 (Cal. 1976).
  17. Marvin v. Marvin, 18 Cal. 3d 660 (Cal. 1976).
  18. "Editorial: McComb Should Step Down". Desert Sun. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 24 January 1977. p. B12. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  19. "McComb Hearing Friday". Desert Sun. California Digital Newspaper Collection. UPI. 8 February 1977. p. A2. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  20. McComb v. Commission on Judicial Performance, 19 Cal. 3d (Spec. Trib. Supp.) 1, 138 Cal. Rptr. 459, 564 P.2d 1 (1977).
  21. "Find a Grave". Arlington National Cemetery. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  22. "Marshall McComb, Ex-Judge On California Supreme Court". New York Times. UPI. September 7, 1981. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  23. "Scholarships for Continuing Students". Southwestern Law School. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
  24. "Christopher David Ruiz Cameron Vice Dean, Justice Marshall F. McComb Professor of Law". Southwestern University Law School. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  25. "Marhsall McComb Weds Pennsylvania Girl". Mohave County Miner and Our Mineral Wealth. Newspapers.com. September 9, 1921. p. 10. Retrieved September 22, 2017. News reached here this week of the marriage of Marshall McComb to Agnes Taylor Challinor of Edgewood, Pennsylvania. The wedding took place on August 22. The bride is a popular young lady and very attractive we are told. The groom a son of Harry McComb is well known in Mohave County having spent several years of his boyhood here. After graduating from the Yale law school he started practice in Los Angeles and is now doing well.
  26. "Society". Los Angeles Times. Newspapers.com. October 16, 1921. p. 29. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  27. "B.A. Candidates Listed". Stanford Daily (105 (54)). 18 April 1944. p. 3. Retrieved September 22, 2017. School of Social Sciences, Martha Estelle McComb
  28. "McComb, Margaret G." San Francisco Chronicle. November 8, 2003. Retrieved September 22, 2017.

Further reading

See also
Legal offices
Preceded by
Douglas L. Edmonds		 Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
1956 – 1977		 Succeeded by
Frank C. Newman
Preceded by
Gavin W. Craig		 Associate Justice of the California Courts of Appeal, Second District, Division Two
1937 – 1955		 Succeeded by
Allen W. Ashburn
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