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Tani Cantil-Sakauye
Current Court Information:
California Supreme Court
Title:	Chief Justice
Service:
Appointed by:	Arnold Schwarzenegger
Active:	2010-2020
Chief:	2010-2020
Preceded by:	Ronald George
Past post:	California Third District Appellate Judge
Past term:	2005-2010
Personal History
Born:	1959
Home State:	Sacremento, CA
Bachelors:	University of California at Davis, 1980
Law School:	UC Davis, Martin Luther King Jr. School of Law, 1984

Tani Cantil-Sakauye is the Chief Justice of the seven member California Supreme Court. She was appointed to the court in the state's Commission-selection, political appointment method of judicial selection on July 21, 2010 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace retiring Chief Justice Ronald George. She was sworn in on December 3, 2010 and then retained by voters in the 2010 election. She is the first non-Caucasian to serve as Chief Justice and only the second woman to do so. ^[1] Her current term will expire in 2020 ^{[2] [3][4][5]}

Education

Cantil-Sakauye earned her associate's degree from Sacramento City College in 1978. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Davis in 1980 and then received her Juris Doctor from the Martin Luther King Jr. School of Law, at the University of California - Davis, in 1984. ^[6]

Career

After graduating from law school in 1984, Cantil-Sakauye served as a Deputy District Attorney in Sacramento County. In 1988, she began working for Governor Deukmejian as a deputy legal affairs secretary and a deputy legislative secretary. In 1990, she was appointed to the Sacramento County Municipal Court by Governor Deukmejian. In 1997, Governor Wilson promoted her to the Sacramento County Superior Court. She was then appointed to the California Third District Court of Appeal where she served until her appointment to the California Supreme Court in 2010. ^[6][5]

Awards and association

Awards

• Beacon of Justice Award, Friends of the Los Angeles County Law Library, 2012 ^[7]
• Person of the Year Award, Metropolitan News-Enterprise, 2011 ^[8]
• President's Award, Sacramento Asian Bar Association, 2005
• Trailblazer's Award, National Asisan Pacific American Bar Association, 2003
• Filipina of the Year Award ^[6]

Associations

• Member, California Judicial Council ^[9]
• Vice chair, California Judicial Council, Rules and Projects Committee
• Chair, Judicial Council of California
• Chair, Commission on Judicial Appointments
• Chair, California Judicial Council, Advisory Committee on Financial Accountability and Efficiency for the Judicial Branch
• Co-chair, California Judicial Council, Judicial Recruitment and Retention Working Group
• Former Member, California Judicial Council, Domestic Violence Practice and Procedure Task Force
• Former Chair, California Judicial Council, Best Practices Domestic Violence subcommittee
• Member, California Commission on Impartial Courts
• Member, California Judges Association
• President, American Inn of Court
• Special Master, Commission on Judicial Performance
• Member, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
• Sacramento Asian Bar Association ^[6]

Elections

2010

California Supreme Court, Chief Justice 2010 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Tani Cantil-Sakauye		4,772,376	67.1%
Against retention		2,345,611	32.9%

• Click here for 2010 General Election Results from the California Secretary of State.

Judicial philosophy

In an interview with The Sacramento Bee in 2005, Cantil-Sakauye said:

"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. ... 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."

^[10]

Interview with the Chief Justice

In July 2011, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye spoke with KQED Radio in a thirty minute discussion about proposed budget cuts to the California judiciary. Follow the link to listen to the interview: KQED Radio, "Budget Cuts Slash California Courts," July 22, 2012.

See also

• California
• California Supreme Court
• Supreme Weekly: Judicial surveys and court room confrontation, the truth may hurt

External links

• CA Courts of Appeal website
• Profile from the League of Women Voters
• KansasCity.com, "Chief justice nominee avoids hot-button issues", July 24, 2010
• California Office of the Governor, Press Release: "Gov. Schwarzenegger Swears-In His Nominee, Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, as California’s Next Chief Justice," December 3, 2010
• Los Angeles Times, "California chief justice urges reevaluting death penalty," December 24, 2011
• SCPR.org, "California Supreme Court chief justice: Budget cuts have put state courts near collapse," March 19, 2012

References

v • d • e California Supreme Court
Current	Kathryn Mickle Werdegar  •  Ming Chin  •  Marvin Baxter  •  Joyce Kennard  •  Carol Corrigan  •  Goodwin Liu  •  Tani Cantil-Sakauye  •
Former	Annette Abbott Adams  •  Alexander O. Anderson  •  Frank M. Angellotti  •  Rose Bird  •  Carlos Moreno  •  Ronald George  •  Serranus Clinton Hastings  •