Calif. Justice Quits After 2 Yrs. : Kaufman Cites Host of Reasons

Deukmejian named Kaufman to the state Supreme Court in the aftermath of the bitter 1986 election ouster of Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird and two other liberal justices.

The trio of Deukmejian appointments tipped the 30-year liberal dominance of the seven-member court to a decidedly conservative 5-2 split.

Court-watchers widely predicted that Kaufman would lead the court's bend to the right.

But the sometimes acerbic justice surprised many observers with his recent willingness to break ranks with the conservative knot of five and join the liberal minority in some rulings, especially in important civil decisions.

He broke with the conservatives, dissenting on far-reaching rulings that restricted the right of wrongfully fired workers to sue their former employers; prohibited the use of California antitrust laws against corporate mergers, and barred the liability of a school district for sexual misconduct by a teacher.

Kaufman became the youngest of the three replacement justices appointed to the court after the 1986 election defeat of Bird. He is the second of those three to leave the court.

Justice John Arguelles, 62, retired last March 1. The only remaining one of the three is Justice David Eagleson.