JUSTICE
l COLEMAN A. BLEASE
CALIFORNIA APPELLATE C OURTS
THIRD DISTRICT
PROFILE by
App<>mted by Gm Jern 8m1111 rn
the 3rd District Court ofAppeal. 1979:
partner. Blease. la11derlaa11 & couns ha\ e interpreted the statute.
Rothschild. Sacramento. 196i- "9:
Sacrt1111ento lobb1ift. American Ci1t!
libertres l'mOll. -1960- "5: Sacra1110110
lobbyist. Friends Com111111ee 011
legif!ation. 1956-59
Lah' school: l'C Berl.el<')' Sth<><1l
ofla11: 1955
AJ!e: 84
By Emily Green
Daily Journal Staff Wmer
SACRJ\ME TO Somcumcs
one's best intentions can go a\\ ry.
Justice Coleman Bleae learned
1ha1 early 1n his career. when he
wa1ched nearly 800 students get am:>t
cd at the University of Berkeley under a
law he himself had sloppily craflcd.
Blease was a profo;or in the uni,ers1-
1y's pccch department. and the studcnL'
were pan of the 1964 seminal Free
Spc\.."\.h Mo\Cltlcnt
TI1c law Blease though1 he \\TOI<:
gave janitors at libranes the power 10
rerno\ e homeless people who refused to
leave.
"I made one big error in it I
1houi;h1 cus1<xhan meant jannor. Tum-;
out. 1hcrc arc lots of custodians. The
go,ernor. the police. the county sherilfs
office. o it completely m1;,;,ed the
whole poin1. And I sat there. watching
800 people being hauled off - ultima1c
ly 1herc were that many arrested - under
:1 s1aru1c that I had misdrafted."
Blcase is 8-' and. after t\\ o decade'
rcpre:.cnting unions and ci'll right:.
a on
organi/ations. " now in his 35th ye;
the state appellate coun in Sacramento
Only Justice Joan Dempsey Klc in . who
boas1> J6 year\ on the L< \n.:tdc,
- 1hc courts hide bchmd "hen rhcv "am
appellate coun. outlasl< ham.
He was never one to hy from
debate or compromise l11s pnncipJe,.
u
and rime has - if :111y1hi11g - acccn1 arc d
e Daily Journal Corporation
that tendency.
Regarding the state Supreme
Coun's jurisprudence. Blease
"Since they have screwed over so many
of my cases. I'm nOI the bcM person 10
ask about it. They have different judg
menr'. <0 that'< what they're there for
The cnminal JUStice ;ys1em. he
said, is "terrible" because ir's O\crly
punHI\ e. And he cnticiz1,,'tl the long
standing practice of appointing mostly
trial judges to the appellate couns.
dcscnbmg tnal cxpcncncc as cssenual
ly useless except for learning rules of
C\'idcncc.
But what Blcase is really passron
aie abour arc rules of staturory construc
rion. It's a topic on which he waws at
length. including 10 his colleagues. I Jc
spent I7 years as a lobbyist
Sacramento. 14 of them representing
the American Civil Libcnie; Union.
Lesson o. I: the concept of di
cernmg legislative intent is O\t.-rblown
"Legislation inrcnrion io ... what
to apply polrcy." he 'aid. "Legislator,,
don't really intend anything unJc.,.,
maybe it is to take care of the problem
which 1s in front of rhcm. And rhey Jrc
-
not thinking about the hundred or thou
sands of other problFms that may be
generated the language they uoc."
Bleasc is a proponent of the Strict
construction of statbtes. That means
looking at what the language of the
>1a1utc <ays. and not how lcgi>lator.
meant for it to apply or even how other
Lawyers who appear before him
'hould be prepared to have the relevant
s1a1ute on hand. and 10 engage in a
detailed discussion of it
"He rs an ad,ocate for intcrprciing
a >laruc pnmarily JUS, from the \\Ords of
the statute itself and not trying to second
guess \\hat the Legislature may really
have been thinking abouL" said Davis
appellate lawyer Kirl)ball J.P. Sargeant.
"The pomt being enacting a statute rs
olleo a matter of compromise and jus1
because one senator thinks it's accom
ph>hing A doesn't ny:an A was "rincn
into the statute."
In a 20 I0 address 10 UC Da\'iS
said. School of Law. Ble ;aid. "It i> dis
d
tressingly common t find that an anor
ncy. in a11;umg that a statute appl"-s in a
manner of benefi1 to his or her client. is
wholly unable 10 explain why or in what
manner 1he languagei of the state JUSti
fics 1ha1 conclusion."
A 2013 dccmon by Bleasc had an
immediate impact on vinually every
adult in the state. H t penned a unani
mous dcc1>1on that said customers at
grocery stores coul no longer use a
self-checkout kiosk 10 buy alcohol. The
C<be centcn..-d on the \)1C3nmg of a "cus
tomcr-opcmtcd chcc 14out stand." Blcase
!kltd it wasn't a close call what the
statute meant.
in Bleasc was equally cenain of the
meamng of "assault" in a ca.-.e that :.till
ark:. him.
h ill\olved an angry man who
''ecred his pickup truck so close 10 his
enemies that he nearly r.in them ov.:r.
t:
Bfcasc ovcnun1cd lhc dcf ndant's cun
\ ic11on of a,;ault b<.--cause the jur y was
n't allowed to consider his claim that he
"anted to fnghten h1$ ad\t:n.:trie,. not
h11 1h.:m.
2014-2
 JUSTICE COLEMAN A. BLEASE, CALIFORNIA APPELLATE COURTS. THIRD DISTRICT

Blease said that m order for assault
to occur. there must be an intentional
attempt to bann someone.
He grudgingly reveTSed himself
after the state Supreme Coun ordered
him to reconsider his decision. People v.
Wright, 100 Cal.App.4th 703 (Cal. App.
3rd Dist. 2002).
That was more than 10 years ago.
The tuition was $35 a semester. and
Blcasc took out a loan from the uni,er
sity. \\hich he paid back SS a month. In
1955. he graduated frcm U.C. Berkeley
School of Law. Soon after, he took his
first lobbying job in Sacramento on
behalf of the Quakers.
In 1967. during his lobbying hey
day. he founded a private law practice
LLP. Sacramcn10
Central Coast Porest Association
'Fish and Game Commission. 211 Cal.
App. 4th 1433 remo,al of salmon
from register of enangered opcc1c>
(Supreme Coun rcviey.' b'fanted)
For defendant and appellant: Tara
L. Mueller. attorney general's office.
Oakland

but Blease still recalls the case vividly. that spcctah7ed in representmg public For plaintiffs and respondents:

as \\ell as the state upreme Coun JUS employees' and teachers' unton. His James L. Buchal. Murphy & Buchal
11cc who authored the opinion: his for fonner law partner. Lawrence K. LLP. Ponland. Ore.
mer colleague Jamee Roger.. Brown. an Karlton. " now a senior district judge In re Pugh on Habeas Corpu,,

outspoken conservative who now serves for the Ea.tcrn Disrric1 of California. 205 Cal. App. -tth 260 parole for an

a;, a federal appeals coun judge. In 1979, Gov. Jerry Drown inmate

"An incredibly >tupid case. They appointed Blea.c to the 3rd D1stnct For appellant: Pamela B. Hooley
Coun of Appeal. He was confinned by and Kasey E. Jon. onomey general'<
were wrong about C\crything in it ... It
a :!-I \Ote. with then-Attorney General office. Sacramento
W:b done by Jamee Rogers Brown. She
George Deukmejian opposing his For respondent: Michael Sams,
i> no great fa\Oritc of mine. If you ever
appointment. Bolinas
want to know somebody with an agen
da. she had one."
Blease has al..o had differences
In the years since, Blcase has
cemented his reputation among lawyers J
Tlris profile or1g nully <1ppearl'd 111

with some of the orgam:rations he reprc
-.cntcd. including the ACLU. After 1-t
)cars lobbying for them at the >late
Legislature. he paned ways because of
the group's suppon of the 1974 Robbins
Rape Evidence Law. which limited
introduction of e' 1dcnce of the alleged
'1c11ms se'Cual conduct.
He said the ACLU saw prosecuting
rapists as a civil libcntcs issue: he per
CCl\Cd it 10 be a pro:.ccutorial func11on.
"And I said I am not here representing a
prosecutorial function."
Former 3rd District Coun of
Appcal Presiding Justice. Anhur
cotland. a Repubhcan appoint<!<! "ho
c.-ed with Blease from 1989 to 2010.
de:.cnbcd him as man. >mart. sman."
"He is liberal politically but he
doc> not have an agenda and I don't
think his political '1ews impropcrl)
influence his JUd1c1al judgment."
Scotland said. "I ha'e great resJJ<.'Ct for
him."
Another fonner colleague. rcured
Ju.tice Rick Sims, said. "For a period of
about 15 years. Presiding Justice Bob
Puglia and Associa1c Justices Coleman
Blea>e and Keith Sparks served togcth
er on the 3rd Dbtnct Coun of Appeal
They were the b..1 legal minds on the
appcllate couns of California. with the
pO>\lblc addition of Justice Howurd
Wiener of the 4th D"trtcl.
"Puglia was a conservative: Spark\
\\as a moderate: and Blcasc was a liber
al. Bui they :ilm(.h.,t ""er dinted on
one another. Sin1> addi."<i. "The la"
bound them together."
Blease was born in San Francisco
and attended college at UC Berkeley.
as being a rigorous and active jurist. the Los Angeles Datly Jo11mal and the
Said fonner appellate pracmioner J
San Francisco Dair ournal on .\larch
Charity Kenyon. "He has an e'Ccellent 3. !014
reputation for being an intellectual and
intellectually honest."
I/err! arr! some ofJustice Blet1se's
recent casef and the /:myers mvfred:
Caltfom1a Grocers Assoc1a1ton \'.
Depanment of Alcoholic Bc,erage
ContrOI. 219 Cal. App. 4th 1065. pur
chase of alcohohc beverage,, at grocery
stores
For petitioner: James M. ScfT and
Christopher R. Rodriguez. P1ll<.bury
Wimhrop Shav. Pittman LLP.
Sacramento
For respondent: Fic l D. Tigno and
Michael D. Gowe. attorney general's
office. Oakland
The Roman Catholic Bihop of
Jose Jose' Bo\\en. 219 Cal. App. 4th
-t84 a church's assets upon d1S>Olu11on
For plaintiffs and appellants; Laura
Borden Riddell and John M. Cox.
Sweeney & Greene LLP, Elk Grove
For defendant and respondent:
Peter K. Southwonh and Syh 1a A.
Cates. auomey general'' office.
Sacramento
MacDonald v. State of Cahfomia.
C069646 claims of reraliauon
For plaintiff and appellant: Adam
Blair Corren. Stockton
For defendant and respondent State
of Cahfom1a: Scou H. Wyckoff and
'I.lark J T3mhlyn. auomc) fCncral'<
office. Sacramento
For defendant and respondent
California State Assembly: Timothy G
Yeung. Renne Sloan Hoh7m:m Saka i

20142 c Daily Journal Corporation

 I
JUSTICE COLEMAN A. BLEASE CALIFORNIA APPELLATE COURTS THIRD DISTRICT
,

BIOGRAPHY
CURRENT ASSIGNMENT PERSONAL lllSTORY

Coun: Californi a Appellate Coun;, Binhplace: San Francisco. CA

Title: Justice Sex: M
Dates: 1979 to Present Spouse: Barbara Hoyt
Status: Appointed Political Affihat1on; Democrat
Appointed by: GO\'Cmor Jerry
Brown
D ate: M ay 14. 1979

EDUCATION

Law School: UC Berkeley. Boah

Hall School of Law
Location: Ber\(.eley. CA
Date: 1955
Degree: LL.B.

College: UC Berkeley
Location: Berkeley. CA
Date: 1952
Degree: B. A.

PRACTICE HISTORY

Bleasc. Vanderlaan & Roth<ch1ld

Partner
Location: Sacramento. CA
From: 1967 to 1979

American Ci' ii Libcn1c<> Union

S acramento Lobbyist
Location: Sacramento. CA
From: 1960 to 1975

Friends Committee on Legi<lauon

S acramento Lobby1;1
Location: Sacramento. CA
From: 1956 to 1959

BARS AND RELATED

PROFESSIONAL ACTl\'ITIES

1979-present: California Judge<

Association
1955-present: Admmed to California
Bar

OTHER ORGANIZATIO

Friends Committee on Lcgi;,lation

ACLU of Southern Cahfomia
Social Workers Union
Local 535
AFL-CIO

Daily Journal Corporation 2014-2