The recent publicity about the opening of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens’s papers, including an analysis of a memo to Justice Stevens by his then clerk — and current California Supreme Court Justice — Leondra Kruger, raised some questions.
First, what about the accessibility of California Supreme Court justices’ papers? Spokesperson Merrill Balassone tells At The Lectern that “the papers of five former justices (Justices Stanley Mosk, Joseph Grodin, Allen Broussard, Wiley Manuel, and Ming Chin) are available through the California Judicial Center Library, with the web page for each collection describing applicable access restrictions and other conditions placed on the use of these papers.” (Link added.) I think these are the web pages for the papers of Justices Mosk, Grodin, Broussard, Manuel, and Chin.
Balassone also reports, “papers of some other former justices are housed at other libraries — the papers of former Chief Justice Rose Bird are at the Bancroft Library [see here]; those of former Associate Justice Cruz Reynoso are at UC Davis [see here] — and accessible to researchers through those institutions.” (Links added.)
I also had questions for Justice Kruger: whether, when she wrote memos to Justice Stevens, she was aware that they might become public; and what her reaction was to seeing her memo discussed by election law experts. Finally, I had questions for Justice Kruger and for Justice Goodwin Liu, who also was a U.S. Supreme Court clerk: whether the opening of a justice’s papers inhibits candor in clerks’ communications with their bosses and whether Kruger and Liu have plans to have their own California Supreme Court papers open to the public at some time. Both declined to comment.