FilAmstar.net: Fil-Am named CA chief justice

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Fil-Am named CA chief justice
Jul 23, 05:10 PM

By JUN MEDINA

Filipino American Court of Appeals Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye of Sacramento was appointed Thursday as chief justice of the California Supreme Court by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The daughter of ethnic Filipino parents, Cantil-Sakauye, 50, would become the first Asian American – and certainly, of Filipino descent — to lead the state’s judiciary.

Her appointment must be confirmed by the California Commission on Judicial Appointments. She would then run for the seat in the general election in order to win a full 12-year term.

She would also give the California Supreme Court a female majority for the first time in the court’s history.

“Being nominated to serve on the highest court in California is a dream come true,” Cantil-Sakauye said of her nomination. “As a jurist, woman and a Filipina, I am extremely grateful for the trust Gov. Schwarzenegger has placed in me.”

According to Filipino community leaders in the know, Cantil-Sakauye comes from humble roots. Her Filipina mother was a farm worker and her Hawaii-born Filipino- Portuguese father worked in sugar cane and pineapple plantations before moving to Sacramento.

A Republican, Cantil-Sakauye is married to Police Lt. Mark Sakauye, and they have two daughters.

A judge on the Third District of the California Courts of Appeal, Cantil-Sakauye was appointed by Schwarzenegger on Dec. 3, 2004 and took the oath of office on Jan. 5, 2005. She was retained by voters in the Nov. 7, 2006 elections.

A member of the powerful Judicial Council of California, the Fil-Am judge has received top awards, including, among others, the 2005 President’s Award from the Sacramento Asian Bar Association, 2003 Trailblazer’s Award from National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and the Filipina of the Year Award.

She rose from the judicial ranks. After serving 14 years as a Municipal Court judge in Sacramento, Cantil-Sakauye was elevated in 1997 by Gov. Pete Wilson to the Superior Court. In 2005, she was nominated to the Court of Appeals, Third Appellate District, where she was unanimously confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments.

On the Sacramento court, Justice Cantil Sakauye presided over both criminal and civil assignments. In 1997, she started and presided over the first court in Sacramento dedicated solely to domestic violence issues. Her responsibilities on the Sacramento court included: chair of the court’s criminal law committee, member of the presiding judge’s task force on domestic violence, and member of the Home Court committee.

She is currently a member of the Judicial Council, where she serves as vice chair of the Rules and Projects Committee, chair of the Advisory Committee on Financial Accountability and Efficiency for the Judicial Branch, co-chair of the Judicial Recruitment and Retention Working Group, and a member of the California Commission on Impartial Courts.

Cantil-Sakauye has previously served as member of the Judicial Council’s Task Force on Domestic Violence Practice and Procedure and chaired the Best Practices Domestic Violence subcommittee. She serves as president of the Anthony M. Kennedy American Inn of Court, an organization dedicated to promoting civility, ethics, and professionalism in the practice of law.

Since 2007, she has served as a Special Master, selected by the Supreme Court to hear disciplinary proceedings before the Commission on Judicial Performance.

Born in 1959 in Sacramento, Cantil-Sakauye attended C. K. McClatchy High School (1977), and Sacramento City College (1978), before she received her B.A. from the University of California, at Davis, graduating with honors in 1980.

After taking a year off to visit her ancestral homeland, the Philippines, Cantil-Sakauye entered the UC-Davis, Martin Luther King Jr. School of Law in 1981. Immediately after receiving her J.D. in 1984, she worked as a deputy district attorney for the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted a variety of criminal offenses.

In 1988, she worked for Gov. George Deukmejian, on his senior staff, in two consecutive capacities — as deputy legal affairs secretary and as deputy legislative secretary.

A 2005 interview with The Sacramento Bee in 2005 gives a glimpse of Cantil-Sakauye’s sharp judicial sense.

“My philosophy is to really listen closely to what people have to say and try to balance it with everything they’ve told me and give them a fair shot to tell me what they’re thinking,” she said in that interview.

“If I let them ramble a bit, point them in a direction, I learn why that person is there, much better than in a question-and-answer format.”

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