About Roger J. Traynor
Roger John Traynor (February 12, 1900 – May 14, 1983) was an American lawyer who served as Chief Justice of California from 1964 to 1970 and was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California from 1940 to 1964. Traynor had served as a deputy attorney general of California under Earl Warren, and an acting dean and professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law. A jurist noted for liberalism and activism, Traynor's 30-year career as California's 77th Justice coincided with demographic, social, and governmental growth in California and in the United States. Traynor believed (in the words of his biographer, G. Edward White) that "the increased presence of government in American life was a necessary and beneficial phenomenon." After his retirement from the California Supreme Court, Traynor spent the last years of his life as a professor at the UC Hastings College of Law. He won a scholarship at the end of his first year due to his excellent grades, and went on to earn a B.A. in 1923, an M.A. in 1924, and a Ph.D. in 1926; all these degrees were in political science. At Boalt Hall of UC Berkeley, Traynor wrote articles on taxation, while serving as editor-in-chief of the California Law Review, and became a full-time professor in 1936. After retiring from the Supreme Court of California in 1970, Traynor became a professor at the UC Hastings College of Law.
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