Rose Bird

Rose Bird
Bird in 1977
25th Chief Justice of California
In office
March 26, 1977 – January 5, 1987
Appointed byJerry Brown
Preceded byDonald R. Wright
Succeeded byMalcolm M. Lucas
Personal details
Born
Rose Elizabeth Bird

(1936-11-02)November 2, 1936
near Tucson, Arizona
DiedDecember 4, 1999(1999-12-04) (aged 63)
Stanford, California
Alma materLong Island University (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (JD)

Rose Elizabeth Bird (November 2, 1936 – December 4, 1999) was the 25th Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. She was the first female law clerk of the Nevada Supreme Court, the first female deputy public defender in Santa Clara County, the first woman to serve in the California State Cabinet, and the first female Chief Justice of California.

She was also notable as the first, and to date only, Chief Justice in California history to lose a retention election.