There was once an era in which the California Supreme Court led the nation in progressive legal thought. Exemplified, at least in part, by its decision in Pruneyard -- the case that extended free speech rights to private shopping malls. An opinion that's read by nearly every first-year law student throughout the country. It's that famous.
For better or worse, times have definitely changed. A lot. Now the best that the California Supreme Court can do is to refrain from overruling this twenty-eight year old precedent. With a single vote to spare.
Justices Chin, Baxter, and Corrigan vote to overrule Pruneyard. But Justices Moreno, Kennard, and Werdeger -- joined by Chief Justice George -- go the other way.
Regardless. The times, they are a-changin'.
