{{Short description|American judge (1907-1985)}} {{Other people}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Donald Richard Wright | image = Donald R. Wright, 1971.jpg | image_size = | caption = Official portrait, 1971 | order = 24th | office = Chief Justice of California | term_start = April 17, 1970 | term_end = February 1, 1977 | nominator = | appointer = Ronald Reagan | predecessor = Roger J. Traynor | successor = Rose Bird | office2 = Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Two | term_start2 = December 23, 1968 | term_end2 = April 16, 1970 | nominator2 = | appointer2 = Ronald Reagan | predecessor2 = | successor2 = Lynn Compton | birth_date = {{birth date|1907|01|23}} | birth_place = Placentia, California, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1985|03|21|1907|01|23}} | death_place = Pasadena, California, U.S. | spouse = {{marriage|Margaret W. McClellan|1932}} | alma_mater = Stanford University (BA)<br>Harvard University (LLB) }} '''Donald Richard Wright''' (February 2, 1907 &ndash; March 21, 1985) was the 24th Chief Justice of California.

==Biography== Born in Placentia, California, Wright earned his Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University in 1929 and his Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1932.<ref>{{cite news|title=Committee Appointments|url=http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19271005-01.1.4&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------#|accessdate=July 11, 2017|work=The Stanford Daily|issue=3|date=October 5, 1927|volume = 72|page=4}}</ref><ref name="latobit">{{cite news|last1=Malnic|first1=Eric|last2=Morain|first2=Dan|title=Ex-Chief Justice Wright, Foe of Death Penalty, Dies|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-03-22-mn-29733-story.html|access-date=July 11, 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|date=March 22, 1985}}</ref> Admitted to the California State Bar in 1933, he worked in private practice at the law firm of Barrick, Poole & Knox in Pasadena, California until 1953, except for 1942–1946 when he served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.<ref name="latobit"/>

In 1953, Governor Earl Warren appointed Wright to the Los Angeles Municipal Court, where he served until 1961 when he was elected to the Los Angeles County Superior Court.<ref>{{cite news|title=Warren Names Judges|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SBS19530930.1.3&srpos=3&e=------195-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22donald+r.+wright%22-------1|accessdate=October 1, 2017|work=San Bernardino Sun|agency=UPI|issue=26|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=September 30, 1953|volume = 60|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Those Tire Marks Don't Mean A Thing|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MT19571028.2.86&srpos=6&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22donald+r.+wright%22-------1|accessdate=July 11, 2017|work=Madera Tribune|issue=141|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=October 28, 1957|page=6}}</ref> In June 1968, Sirhan B. Sirhan appeared in court for arraignment on the charge of first-degree murder of Robert F. Kennedy, and Wright as presiding judge assigned a public defender to the case.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sirhan To Have Public Defender For His Lawyer|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MT19680612.2.5&srpos=15&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22donald+r.+wright%22-------1|accessdate=July 11, 2017|work=Madera Tribune|agency=UPI|issue=21|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=June 12, 1968|page=1}}</ref>

In 1968, Wright left the Superior Court when Governor Ronald Reagan appointed him as an associate justice of California Second District Court of Appeal, Division Two. In 1970, Reagan appointed Wright as the 24th Chief Justice of California, where he served from April 17, 1970, until his retirement on February 1, 1977.<ref>{{cite news|title=Justice Wright to Retire|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19770131.2.12&srpos=17&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22donald+wright%22-------1|accessdate=October 1, 2017|work=Desert Sun|agency=UPI|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=January 31, 1977|page=A2}}</ref> In the November 1970 judicial retention elections, Wright received 80.6% of the vote.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Braitman|first1=Jacqueline R.|last2=Uelmen|first2=Gerald F.|title=Justice Stanley Mosk: A Life at the Center of California Politics and Justice|date=2012|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1476600710|page=151|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G7kWXsKpJTEC&dq=%22donald+r.+wright%22+chief+justice&pg=PA151|accessdate=July 11, 2017}}</ref> When Wright stepped down, Governor Jerry Brown named Rose Bird as Wright's replacement.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hepperle|first1=Winifred L.|title=Book Review: Framed: The New Right Attack on Chief Justice Rose Bird and the Courts|journal=Golden Gate University Law Review|date=January 1984|volume=14|issue=3|pages=505–517, 506, fn 5|url=http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1330&context=ggulrev|accessdate=July 11, 2017}}</ref>

Among Wright's most notable cases was ''People v. Anderson'' (1972), striking down the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment, and in violation of the state constitution.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news|title=Donald R. Wright, 78; Was California Justice|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/22/us/donald-r-wright-78-was-california-justice.html?mcubz=0|accessdate=July 11, 2017|work=New York Times|agency=Associated Press|date=March 22, 1985}}</ref> In another opinion, ''Vesely v. Sager'' (1971), he crafted the doctrine of host liability for a provider of alcohol to someone who later injures another.<ref>[http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/vesely-v-sager-27639 ''Vesely v. Sager''], 5 Cal. 3rd 153, 486 P.2d 181, 95 Cal. Rptr. 623 (1971)</ref>

On March 21, 1985, Wright died in Pasadena, California.<ref>{{cite news|title=Editorial: Wright: Justice of Principle|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SBS19850328.1.10&srpos=1&e=------198-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22roger+j.+Traynor%22-------1|accessdate=October 3, 2017|work=San Bernardino Sun|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=March 28, 1985|page=10}}</ref>

==Honors and legacy== In 1971, the University of the Pacific conferred on him a LL.D. (honorary). In 1972, the California Trial Lawyers Association named Wright the Appellate Judge of the Year. In 1977, the Orange County Bar Association awarded him the Judge Franklin G. West Award.<ref>{{cite web|title=Past Franklin G. West Award Honorees|url=http://www.ocbar.org/Portals/0/pdf/news/2011/fgw_nom.pdf|publisher=Orange County Bar Association|accessdate=July 11, 2017}}</ref> The Pasadena Bar Association annually awards the Donald R. Wright Distinguished Service Award for contributions to law and society.

His papers are held at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.<ref>{{cite web|title=Finding aid for Papers of Donald R. Wright, 1933-1977 (bulk 1970-1977)|url=http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll1/id/3106|publisher=Huntington Library|accessdate=July 11, 2017}}</ref>

==Personal life== In 1932, Wright married Margaret W. McLellan.<ref name="nytobit"/>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading== * {{cite journal|last1=Mosk|first1=Stanley|title=Chief Justice Donald R. Wright|journal=Cal. L. Rev.|date=March 1977|volume=65|number=2|page=224|url=http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2413&context=californialawreview|accessdate=July 11, 2017}} * {{cite journal|last1=Tobriner|first1=Matthew|title=Chief Justice Donald Wright|journal=Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly|date=1977|volume=4|issue=4|pages=701–702|url=http://www.hastingsconlawquarterly.org/archives/V4/I4/tobriner.pdf|accessdate=July 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016230654/http://www.hastingsconlawquarterly.org/archives/V4/I4/tobriner.pdf|archive-date=October 16, 2015|url-status=dead}} * {{cite journal|last1=Ehrlich|first1=Thomas|title=Tribute to Chief Justice Donald R. Wright|journal=Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly|date=1977|volume=4|issue=4|page=677|url=http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facpub/1805/|accessdate=July 11, 2017}} * {{cite journal|last1=Burke|first1=Louis H.|title=Donald R. Wright|journal=Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly|date=1977|volume=4|issue=4|pages=675–676|url=http://www.hastingsconlawquarterly.org/archives/V4/I4/burke.pdf|accessdate=July 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016225936/http://www.hastingsconlawquarterly.org/archives/V4/I4/burke.pdf|archive-date=October 16, 2015|url-status=dead}} * [https://books.google.com/books/about/Donald_R_Wright.html?id=_4lJAQAAIAAJ Donald R. Wright: a view of Reagan and the California courts : interviews]. Oral History Program, California State University, Fullerton, 1984. Retrieved July 11, 2017.

==External links== *[http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/WrightD.pdf Biography from the California Second District Court of Appeal]. Retrieved July 11, 2017. *[http://www.cschs.org/history/california-supreme-court-justices/donald-r-wright/ Donald R. Wright]. California Supreme Court Historical Society. Retrieved July 11, 2017. * [https://www.courtlistener.com/person/3865/donald-r-wright/ Opinions authored by Donald Wright]. Courtlistener.com. Retrieved July 11, 2017. * [http://www.courts.ca.gov/12523.htm Past & Present Justices]. California State Courts. Retrieved July 19, 2017.

==See also== * List of justices of the Supreme Court of California

{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef | before=Roger J. Traynor }} {{s-ttl | title=24th Chief Justice of California | years=May 1, 1970 – February 1, 1977 }} {{s-aft | after=Rose Bird }} {{s-new | seat }} {{s-ttl | title=Judge of the California Court of Appeal for the Second District, Division Two | years=December 23, 1968 – April 29, 1970 }} {{s-aft | after=Lynn Compton }} {{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Donald R.}} Category:1907 births Category:1985 deaths Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Stanford University alumni Category:Judges of the California Courts of Appeal Category:Chief justices of California Category:People from Placentia, California Category:California judges appointed by Ronald Reagan Category:Superior court judges in the United States Category:20th-century California state court judges Category:Lawyers from Los Angeles Category:United States Army officers Category:United States Army personnel of World War II