CHICAGO – The Commission on Judicial Appointment unanimously confirmed on Wednesday the nomination of Justice Tani Gorres Cantil-Sakauye for Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court.
Matt Connelly, deputy press secretary of the office of the California governor, said the three-member Commission on Judicial Appointments, composed of current Chief Justice Ronald George, Court of Appeals Justice Joan Dempsey Klein ad Attorney General Jerry Brown, confirmed Cantil-Sakauye.
Cantil-Sakauye was earlier nominated by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace Chief Justice George, who is retiring on January 2, 2011.
In light of the confirmation of her nomination, Cantil-Sakauye’s name will be placed on the November ballot unopposed.
If approved by voters, she will serve a 12-year term to become the first Filipina-American, and the youngest, Chief Justice in the history of the California Supreme Court.
In a statement following her confirmation, Schwarzenegger said, “Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye is immensely qualified to be the next Chief Justice of California and I applaud the Commission for its unanimous confirmation vote."
“She is an experienced jurist, who has the respect of her peers in the court, and she possesses administrative and legal skills that make her uniquely qualified to lead California’s judicial branch. Justice Cantil-Sakauye understands that the role of a Justice is to administer the law, not to create law, and for that reason I am absolutely convinced she will be a fair and prudent Chief Justice of California," he added.
The confirmation hearing was held across along McAllister St. across the California Supreme Court and was the first hearing to be broadcast throughout the whole state.
Sacramento-based Cantil-Sakauye, 50, earned a juris doctorate from the University of California, a law degree from the Davis School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis.
Since 2005, Cantil-Sakauye has served as an associate justice for the Third District Court of Appeals in Sacramento. Previously, she was a superior court judge of the Sacramento County Superior Court from 1997 to 2004 and a municipal court judge of the Sacramento County Municipal Court from 1990 to 1997.
Cantil-Sakauye is a member of the California Judicial Council and of the Commission on Impartial Courts. She is the chair of the Judicial Branch Financial Accountability and Efficiency Advisory Committee, and president of the Anthony M. Kennedy Inn of Court.
Currently one of only two women, and one of only two persons of color, in the Court of Appeal’s Third District, she was the first woman of Asian ethnicity to serve as judge in Sacramento County. She was then one of the youngest judges in the state at 31.
She is married to Sacramento Police Lieutenant Mark Sakauye, and has two daughters: Hana, 14, and Claire, 11.
Before Cantil-Sakauye, the late Benjamin Menor, a native of Ilocos Norte, was the first Filipino-American to be appointed in a state’s highest judiciary as justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court. —LBG, GMANews.TV
source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/199655/filam-named-as-california-sc-chief-gains-unanimous-nod
