Clocking in at nearly two hours, the induction ceremony for San Francisco Superior Court Judge Angela Bradstreet must have set several records.
Aside from its duration, it’s safe to suppose that the investiture for Bradstreet -- the former state labor commissioner, BASF president and Carroll, Burdick & McDonough managing partner -- was the only one in San Francisco (in the state?) that has ever featured a singing tribute by a California Supreme Court justice.
The rotunda at City Hall was packed Tuesday night with Bradstreet devotees, public officials and judges (many of whom Bradstreet, having served on Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s judicial committee, probably had a hand in getting appointed). It took the master of ceremonies, S.F. Presiding Judge Katherine Feinstein, a good three minutes or so to read the names of all the judges in attendance: federal judges, appellate judges, retired judges, and even a judge from Kentucky.
Speakers included San Francisco Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart, Golden Gate Law School Dean Drucilla Ramey, Joseph Cotchett of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy and Berkeley criminal defense attorney Cristina Arguedas.
They spoke of Bradstreet’s battles on behalf of women and gay people, her career that skyrocketed from a middle-class upbringing in London, her golf game, the loves of her life and her penchant for martinis.
But Justice Joyce Kennard pretty much stole the show when she serenaded Bradstreet with a few lines from America’s favorite singing cowboy, Gene Autry’s 1946 hit “Have I Told You Lately that I Love You?”
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