Joyce L. Kennard

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Standing, from left to right: Moreno, Werdegar, Chin, Corrigan. Seated: Kennard, George, Baxter.

Joyce Luther Kennard (born May 6, 1941) is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California. She was born in a Japanese concentration camp in the province of West Java in Indonesia. English is not her native language; she speaks it with a slight Dutch accent. Appointed by Governor George Deukmejian in 1989 she is the longest-serving justice sitting on the Court, having been retained by California's voters three times--to fill the unexpired term in 1990, and to twelve-year terms in 1994 and 2006.

Kennard immigrated to Los Angeles in 1961. In 1974, she graduated with a Juris Doctor from the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California, where she also earned a Bachelor's Degree in German and a Master of Public Administration. Born to a family of modest means, Kennard worked as a secretary to pay for her education.

Kennard's rise within the California court system after she graduated from law school was and is often described as, "meteoric." Appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1986, Kennard was elevated in 1987 to the California Superior Court and elevated again, in 1988, to the California Court of Appeal. Finally, in 1989, Governor George Deukmejian appointed her to the California Supreme Court. Upon taking her oath, Kennard became the second woman and the first Asian American to serve as a justice on the Court.

During her time on the bench, Kennard has authored numerous high-profile opinions, the best-known of which is Kasky v. Nike (2002) 27 Cal. 4th 939. In that case, the California Supreme Court held that Nike could not claim a First Amendment "commercial free speech" defense when charged with lying about sweatshop conditions in its overseas manufacturing plants. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari, apparently at the urging of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wanted to reverse. Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe, who had criticized the California Supreme Court's decision, represented Nike. But ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to render an opinion, instead letting the California Supreme Court's decision stand.

Kennard has a reputation for aggressive questioning during oral argument. She does not hesitate to ask long and complicated questions--often speaking for minutes at a time before prompting an attorney to respond. Like her retired counterpart from the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Kennard often asks the first question in a given case.

Kennard walks with the help of a prosthesis, as her leg was amputated when she was a teenager, .

In 1999, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Kennard was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol after one of her tires suddenly flattened, causing her car to shimmy. She was not charged with an offense.