Book recommendation: CA Chief Justice Ronald George's oral history

Every week, Inland Empire Law Weekly recommends a book. This week's selection is Chief: The Quest for Justice in California, an oral history with California Chief Justice Ronald George.

George led an interesting life. He was the son of Hungarian and French immigrants, attended school in Geneva, Switzerland, and served as Deputy Attorney General for California for seven years. He represented the state in its prosecution of Sirhan Sirhan, for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and represented California in a landmark case involving the death penalty. Gov. Jerry Brown appointed George to Los Angeles Superior Court, where he presided over the trial of Hillside Strangler Angelo Buono. Gov. Pete Wilson appointed George to the California Supreme Court in 1991, and then as Chief Justice of California in 1996. He authored the ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in 2008. The ruling was overturned by voter's decision through Proposition 8 six months later.

This 758-page book was a product of University of California's California Supreme Court Oral History Project, and as such is a first-hand account of George's life, as told by the justice himself.

Page 30, chosen randomly, is an account of the year 1960, in which George pretended to be a member of the press and joined then-presidential candidate Richard Nixon's press junket.

"I got up to the counter (at Nixon's campaign's headquarters), they asked me for my name, and it wasn't on the list of course. I said, 'My editor is going to be furious at me and at your campaign too. I've got to cover this story.' They said, 'There must have been a mistake.' and asked what paper I was with, so I said I was from the (nonexistent) Yale Daily News instead of the (real) Daily Princetonian. I didn't want to leave too many tracks. I got the credential and went back to the ABC studios," George said.

He ditched college classes, hopped on the press plane to St. Louis, and was sat next to President Harry Truman at one of the rallies. He only left the campaign trail to take his midterms.

On the last page, George said he reviewed the clippings of newspapers articles on him that were published throughout his 14-year service as chief justice, to ensure he didn't miss anything.

"Going through these clippings has reminded me of an observation that's been made: journalism is the first rough draft of history—which, by the way, is one of several reasons I always made it a practice to attempt to accommodate the needs of the press in the course of my professional career," George said.

The book is $38 from Amazon