Armand Arabian

Armand M. Arabian (December 12, 1934 – March 28, 2018) was an American lawyer who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California from February 3, 1990, to February 28, 1996. Early life and education Armand was born in New York City to John and Aghavnie (née Yalian) Arabian, who had immigrated from Armenia following the 1915 Armenian genocide. Arabian received a B.A. in Psychology from Boston University in 1956. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1958. After his discharge, he obtained a J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1961, and a LL.M. from the University of Southern California Law Center in 1970. Legal and judicial career Before his appointment to the court, Arabian was a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney, 1962-1963, and an attorney in private practice in Van Nuys, California, 1963-1972. In 1972, Arabian was appointed by Governor Ronald Reagan as a Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge, where he served one year. Arabian was then elevated by Governor Reagan to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, where he presided from 1973 to 1983. In 1979, Arabian's initial appointment to the Court of Appeals was the subject of controversy: "When California Governor Jerry Brown left the state to campaign for the presidency in 1979, Lieutenant Governor Mike Curb appointed Armand Arabian to the court of appeal, knowing well that Brown intended to appoint someone else. When Brown returned, he withdrew Arabian's appointment and made his own. The ensuing dispute made it to the state supreme court, which ruled both the appointment and the withdrawal legal." Four years later, Governor George Deukmejian officially appointed Arabian an associate justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second District, where he served from 1983 to 1990.