2007 St. Thomas More Award Recipient - THE HONORABLE CARLOS T. BEA

Carlos Tiburcio Bea is an immigrant to America who today sits as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Born in San Sebastian, Spain on April 18, 1934, he emigrated with his family to Cuba as World War II broke out in Europe. A gifted athlete, Judge Bea earned a silver medal as a member of the Cuban basketball team at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. After coming to the United States, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Stanford University, where he played varsity basketball, and went on to earn his law degree from the Stanford Law School in 1958. He became a naturalized citizen of our country.

Judge Bea supported his wife, Louise, and their four sons Sebastian, Alexander, Nicholas and Dominic, and served his Church, the legal profession and his community, through over thirty years of distinguished private law practice. He has shared his knowledge and experience with attorneys and non-attorneys alike as a speaker and writer, and has worked to spread respect for the rule of law both at home and abroad. Judge Bea has taught at Stanford and the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law.

In recognition of his legal scholarship, Judge Bea was appointed as a Judge of the California Superior Court for the City and County of San Francisco in 1990 by Governor George Deukmejian. While serving on the Superior Court, Judge Bea earned the respect of judges and attorneys alike for both his intellect and a courtroom demeanor that was thorough, evenhanded, and firmly grounded in common sense and compassion. He took on some of the Superior Court’s most complex cases and was unafraid of making difficult decisions. In 2003, Judge Bea was nominated by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and his nomination was confirmed by the United States Congress. To this day, he carries out his judicial duties with the same intelligence, integrity, sense of justice, and love of the law that has marked the entire span of his legal career.

While giving due recognition for his service to the judiciary and the legal profession, Judge Bea is also a devoted husband and father. He has volunteered his time and resources to his parish and to many charities, schools, and community organizations. Judge Bea has served as an Honorary Vice Consul of Spain, and has been appointed to the Order of Isabel la Catolica, and the Knights Order Civil Merit. In 2004, Judge Bea received the Knight Commander’s Badge of the Order of Isabel la Catolica from the King of Spain for his representation of Spanish and Spanish Basque immigrants. He remains a man who can speak to the powerful and the dispossessed alike.

As a husband, father, jurist, lawyer, teacher, athlete, parishioner, immigrant, Catholic, and American, Judge Carlos Bea is, like St. Thomas More, a Man for All Seasons. On the occasion of San Francisco’s Thirty-Ninth Annual Red Mass, the St. Thomas More Society recalls the commitment of St. Thomas More to his Church, to his family, to integrity, and to respect for the laws of God and man, by honoring a member of the community whose lifetime service inspires all of us to follow in the footsteps of our Patron. The St. Thomas More Society of San Francisco gives thanks to God for such a man, Judge Carlos T. Bea.

Dean Marvin J. Anderson Hon. Louis H. Burke Hon. Walter I. Carpeneti Donald C. Carroll Hon. William P. Clark, Jr. Charles H. Clifford Hon. Carol A. Corrigan David P. Dawson Hon. Preston Devine Richard C. Dinkelspiel Robert H. Fabian Mary Bridget Flaherty, R.S.C.J. Hon. Daniel M. Hanlon John F. Henning Hon. Martin J. Jenkins Hon. Anthony M. Kennedy Hon. Donald B. King Floyd A. Lotito, O.F.M. Hon. Eugene F. Lynch

Hon. Leo T. McCarthy John M. McGuckin, Jr. John J. Meehan Thomas J. Mellon Martin D. ("Pete") Murphy Hon. John T. Noonan, Jr. Hon. Edward A. Panelli Hon. Joanne C. Parrilli Eugene C. Payne III Archbishop John R. Quinn Hon. Timothy A. Reardon Joseph P. Russoniello Thomas F. Smegal, Jr. Hon. Raymond L. Sullivan John A. Sutro William F. Terheyden Fr. Louie Vitale, OFM Bernard J. Ward Hon. Raymond D. Williamson, Jr.