Marshall F. McComb

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.{{cite book|title=Bench and Bar of Los Angeles County|date=1922|publisher=Los Angeles Daily Journal|location=Los Angeles, CA|page=26|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yVEwAQAAMAAJ&q=%22marshall+f.+mccomb%22+marriage&pg=PA26|access-date=September 22, 2017}} Entry for Marshall F. McComb. 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.{{cite news|title=Receive Word Ensign McComb Safe in N.Y.|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19190122.2.480&srpos=7&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22marshall+mccomb%22-------|access-date=September 22, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=70|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=22 January 1919|page=4}} After his discharge, he resumed his studies and received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Yale Law School cum laude in 1919.{{cite book|title=Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Yale University|date=1917|publisher=Yale University|location=New Haven, CT|page=863|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PTYXAAAAYAAJ&q=%22marshall+francis+mccomb%22&pg=PA863|access-date=September 22, 2017}}{{cite book|title=Yale University Catalogue|date=1919|publisher=Yale University|location=New Haven, CT|page=510|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N7JGAQAAMAAJ&q=%22marshall+francis+mccomb%22&pg=PA510|access-date=September 22, 2017}} 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.{{cite book|title=University of California Register, Volume 2|date=1922|publisher=University of California|location=Los Angeles, CA|page=71|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxE_AQAAMAAJ&q=%22marshall+francis+mccomb%22&pg=RA1-PA71|access-date=September 22, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/courtsofappeal/2ndDistrict/justices/former/McCombM.pdf|title=Marshall F. McComb|publisher=Judicial Council of California}}

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.

On February 18, 1932, both McComb and fellow future justice B. Rey Schauer were commissioned as officers in the United States Naval Reserve.{{cite news|title=Pfefferkorn Navy Day Chairman|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=CTZN19411024.2.15&srpos=10&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22marshall+f.+mccomb%22-------|access-date=September 22, 2017|work=Coronado Citizen|issue=52|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=24 October 1941|page=1}}

File:Marshall McComb Swearing-In Ronald Reagan As Governor of California.jpg 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. For much of his career there, McComb formed the core of its conservative wing and often dissented from the liberal majority's opinions.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,712323,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220150247/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,712323,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 20, 2011|title=The Law:Zzzz|magazine=TIME Magazine|date=November 15, 1976}} In 1967, McComb swore in Ronald Reagan to the latter's first term as Governor of California.{{cite news|title=Reagan Asks Associate To Administer Oath|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19661208.2.22&srpos=5&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22marshall+f.+mccomb%22-------|access-date=September 22, 2017|work=Desert Sun|agency=UPI|issue=108|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=8 December 1966|page=3}}{{cite web|url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/photographs/history.html|title=Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, National Archives and Records Administration|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration/University of Texas at Austin|access-date=January 26, 2011}}

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."{{cite court |litigants=Dillon v. Legg |vol=68 |reporter=Cal. 2d |opinion=728 |court=Cal. |date=1968 |url=http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/dillon-v-legg-32899}}

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.{{cite court |litigants=People v. Anderson |vol=6 |reporter=Cal. 3d |opinion=628 |court=Cal. |date=1972 |url=http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/people-v-anderson-22750}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19720218.2.11&srpos=1&e=12-02-1972-20-02-1972--en--20--1--txt-txIN-death+penalty-------1|title=State Supreme Court Abolishes Death Penalty|work=Desert Sun|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|page=1|agency=UPI|date=February 18, 1972|access-date=September 22, 2017}} McComb was so upset about the Anderson decision that he walked out of the courtroom.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=F4kjAAAAIBAJ&pg=2269,598351&dq=marshall+mccomb&hl=en|title=Dissenter Is Upset, Walks Out of Court|newspaper=Modesto Bee|author=United Press International|author-link=United Press International|date=February 18, 1972}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SXVFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7143,4050496&dq=proposition+17&hl=en|title=Voters favor death penalty-what now?|newspaper=Telegraph Herald|agency=Associated Press|date=November 23, 1972}}

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.{{cite court |litigants=Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California |vol=9 |reporter=Cal. 3d |opinion=425 |court=Cal. |date=1976 |url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/psylawseminar/Tarsoff%20I.htm}}

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.{{cite court |litigants=Marvin v. Marvin |vol=18 |reporter=Cal. 3d |opinion=660 |court=Cal. |date=1976 |url=http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/marvin-v-marvin-27965}}

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.{{cite news|title=Editorial: McComb Should Step Down|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19770124.2.132&srpos=7&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22marshall+f.+mccomb%22-------|access-date=September 22, 2017|work=Desert Sun|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=24 January 1977|page=B12}}{{cite news|title=McComb Hearing Friday|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19770208.2.14&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22margaret+mccomb%22-------1|access-date=September 22, 2017|work=Desert Sun|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|agency=UPI|date=8 February 1977|page=A2}}[http://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/19/spectribsupp1.html McComb v. Commission on Judicial Performance], 19 Cal. 3d (Spec. Trib. Supp.) 1, 138 Cal. Rptr. 459, 564 P.2d 1 (1977). In 1981, McComb died in Los Angeles and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.{{cite web|title=Find a Grave|url=https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/|publisher=Arlington National Cemetery|access-date=September 22, 2017}}{{cite news|title=Marshall McComb, Ex-Judge On California Supreme Court|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/07/obituaries/marshall-mccomb-ex-judge-on-california-supreme-court.html|access-date=September 24, 2017|work=New York Times|agency=UPI|date=September 7, 1981}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.swlaw.edu/admissions-financial-aid/financial-aid/scholarships-grants-fellowships/scholarships-continuing|title=Scholarships for Continuing Students|publisher=Southwestern Law School|access-date=January 26, 2011}}{{cite web|title=Christopher David Ruiz Cameron Vice Dean, Justice Marshall F. McComb Professor of Law|url=http://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/full-time/christopher-cameron|publisher=Southwestern University Law School|access-date=September 24, 2017}}

On August 22, 1921, McComb first married Agnes I. Taylor (Challinor), a widow.{{cite news|title=Marhsall McComb Weds Pennsylvania Girl|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/42349654/|access-date=September 22, 2017|work=Mohave County Miner and Our Mineral Wealth|publisher=Newspapers.com|date=September 9, 1921|page=10|quote=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.}}{{cite news|title=Society|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/156408096/|access-date=September 22, 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 16, 1921|page=29}} They had a daughter, Martha Estelle McComb (Mullin), who graduated from Stanford University in 1944.{{cite news|title=B.A. Candidates Listed|url=https://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19440418-01.2.22&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------#|access-date=September 22, 2017|work=Stanford Daily|issue=54|date=18 April 1944|volume = 105|page=3|quote=School of Social Sciences, Martha Estelle McComb}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Mc-COMB-Margaret-G-2527014.php|title=McComb, Margaret G.|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=November 8, 2003|access-date=September 22, 2017}}

• List of justices of the Supreme Court of California

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal|last1=Grace|first1=Roger M.|title=Justice Marshall F. McComb: A Tribute Introduction|journal=Sw. U. L. Rev.|date=Summer 1973|volume=5|issue=2|pages=221–226|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/swulr5&div=17&g_sent=1&casa_token=&collection=journals|access-date=September 22, 2017}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Wright|first1=Donald R.|title=Dedication to Marshall F. McComb|journal=Sw. U. L. Rev.|date=Summer 1973|volume=5|issue=2|pages=227–230|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/swulr5&div=17&g_sent=1&casa_token=&collection=journals|access-date=September 22, 2017}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Kane|first1=Robert F.|title=The Inter Vivos Legacy of Marshall F. McComb |journal=Sw. U. L. Rev.|date=Summer 1973|volume=5|issue=2|pages=231–237|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/swulr5&div=17&g_sent=1&casa_token=&collection=journals|access-date=September 22, 2017}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.cschs.org/history/california-supreme-court-justices/marshall-f-mccomb/ Marshall F. McComb]. California Supreme Court Historical Society.
• [http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/McCombM.pdf Profile] (PDF). California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Two.
• [http://scocal.stanford.edu/justice/justice-marshall-f-mccomb-34160 Profile]. SCOCAL, Robert Crown Law Library, Stanford Law School.
• [https://www.courtlistener.com/person/3826/marshall-f-mccomb/ Court opinions authored by Marshall F. McComb]. Courtlistener.com.
• [http://www.courts.ca.gov/12523.htm Past & Present Justices]. California State Courts.

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{{succession box|before=Douglas L. Edmonds|title=Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court|years=1956 – 1977|after=Frank C. Newman}}

{{succession box|before=Gavin W. Craig|title=Associate Justice of the California Courts of Appeal, Second District, Division Two|years=1937 – 1955|after=Allen W. Ashburn}}

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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McComb, Marshall Francis}}

Category:1894 births

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Category:Superior court judges in the United States

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