Benjamin Rey Schauer (May 9, 1891 – March 5, 1977) was an American attorney and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California from December 18, 1942, to September 15, 1965.
[2][3] In November 1938, he overturned a contempt conviction against a 24-year-old woman who appeared in slacks in Los Angeles Municipal Court to testify in a robbery case, and declined the trial judge's request to change into a skirt.
Schauer was then a Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Three, from October 22, 1941, to December 17, 1942.
[5][3] In December 1942, Governor Culbert Olson appointed Schauer as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court, where he remained for 23 years.
[9] One month later, Schauer wrote the majority opinion in Hughes v. Superior Court,[10] holding that protesters were making an illegal demand when they sought to have businesses hire employees based on race, solely to achieve a racial balance proportional to that of the patronage of the business.