Gov. chooses moderate for chief justice

By Maura Dolan

July 22, 2010 12 AM PT

SAN FRANCISCO —

Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s choice to head the California judiciary and the California Supreme Court, is a moderate Republican better known within judicial circles for her skills as an administrator than for legal scholarship or any particular ideological leanings.

Cantil-Sakauye, 50, has won wide praise for her two years on the Judicial Council, the policy-making body of the courts, where she impressed Chief Justice Ronald M. George and other judges as organized, a quick study and collegial.

If approved, Cantil-Sakauye would be the state’s first Asian American chief justice, and her presence would give women a majority on the court for the first time in California history. Only three state high courts have female majorities.

By contrast with her administrative record, legal experts who have begun to study her judicial opinions say there is little there to forecast how Cantil-Sakauye would rule on controversial legal issues.

Lawyers and fellow judges described her as conservative on law-and-order matters and more moderate on social issues. George often has been a swing vote on the court, and Cantil-Sakauye’s vote is likely to decide many high-profile cases.

Three of the justices on the seven-member court are conservative and three are more liberal. There is only one Democratic appointee. Cantil-Sakauye’s views on such hot-button topics as same-sex marriage and abortion rights are unknown.

Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, who examined her appellate rulings, said there was “nothing of consequence that would tell us much about her orientation.”

“I don’t think it’s her reputation as a legal scholar that got her the appointment, but rather her experience in dealing with court administration issues,” he said.

California’s chief justice plays a major role in running the huge statewide court system, making the job much more administrative than the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The chief justice runs the Judicial Council and has to lobby legislators and the governor for court funding and work with judges statewide, some of whom have clashed with George in the past over administrative matters.

George, who intends to retire in January, declined to say Wednesday whether he lobbied for Cantil-Sakauye, but noted that the governor sought his advice in an hourlong meeting. George previously has said his successor should have administrative experience.

“I have relied upon her very heavily in the Judicial Council,” George said. “I think she has been a real star there. She is somebody who understands and appreciates the need for a strong, statewide administration of justice.”

Cantil-Sakauye is a former prosecutor who worked as a deputy legislative and deputy legal secretary under Gov. George Deukmejian. Colleagues say she has a strong presence and calm demeanor.

When Schwarzenegger nominated her to the Court of Appeal in Sacramento five years ago, a state bar evaluating committee gave her a “qualified” rating, a rather average endorsement. The bar could have rated her “well-qualified” or “exceptionally well-qualified” or “not qualified.”

The rating is not binding on the governor or on a three-member confirmation bar panel headed by George. Such nominations are usually routinely approved. She would then be on the November ballot for a retention vote.

As a trial judge in 2001, Cantil-Sakauye was one of the first jurists in the nation to uphold an arrest warrant for an unknown rape suspect who was identified only by his DNA profile. The California Supreme Court has since upheld the practice, but it was extremely controversial and novel at the time.

She also was instrumental in setting up a special court in Sacramento for domestic violence because of the high case volume. She then oversaw that court for a number of years.

As an appeals judge she concurred in a ruling that permitted a woman to denounce her plastic surgeon on the Internet for what she said was a botched surgery and wrote a decision that reinstated a lawsuit against a proposed Wal-Mart super-center in Lodi.

Cantil-Sakauye also dissented in a ruling that said Sacramento was not liable for an alleged sexual assault by two city firefighters. The alleged assault occurred at a costume ball attended by the firefighters who drove their firetrucks to the event, where the plaintiff said they drank and flirted.

Cantil-Sakauye said a jury should determine whether the assault stemmed from working conditions that allegedly permitted firefighters “to take trucks to bars, drink, and pick up women.” The state high court declined to review the majority ruling.

Justice Cole Blease, who was named by former Gov. Jerry Brown to the 3rd District Court of Appeal where Cantil-Sakauye serves, said she has an open mind.

“We meet in the middle,” he said. “I can’t remember disagreeing with her on many cases.”

Others praised her personal style.

“I hate to say this, but she’s a charmer,” said Court of Appeal Justice Vance Raye, who serves with Cantil-Sakauye in the 3rd District. “She’s just a very engaging person. She’s warm and fuzzy all over, and an extremely good communicator.”

Justice Arthur G. Scotland, also in the 3rd District, called her “a brilliant choice.” He said he did not know her personal views on such issues as gay rights but said “she will not go into that position with any agenda.”

California Judges Assn. President Michael Vicencia, who worked with Cantil-Sakauye on the Judicial Council, said she has “the exact right skill” for dealing with the acrimony that sometimes comes with heading a judiciary of independent-minded judges.

“If someone is going to be able to work that out, it’s probably someone like Tani,” he said.

Cantil-Sakauye grew up in Sacramento, a product of public schools. She studied rhetoric as an undergraduate at UC Davis and obtained her law degree there.

She is a second-generation Filipina. Both her parents were agricultural fieldworkers for a time. She is married to a Sacramento Police Department lieutenant and has two children.

UC Davis Law School Dean Kevin Johnson said she has “devoted an incredible amount of time” to a campus program that encourages disadvantaged students from low-income families to go to law school.

Her nomination came as a surprise to her future colleagues on the state high court.

Justice Marvin Baxter, who is active on the Judicial Council, said: “She knows when to listen and when to talk. She has been very, very effective for a relatively new member of the council.” He said her judicial rulings reveal her to be “a very independent thinker.”

Cantil-Sakauye was not available for an interview Wednesday.

She is scheduled to appear at a news conference with Schwarzenegger on Thursday.

She told the Sacramento Bee in 2005 that her collegiality should not be perceived as timidity.

“In the beginning I think people perceived my politeness as a weakness,” she said. “It’s not -- it’s a threshold for entering into robust debate.”

maura.dolan@latimes.com

Times staff writers Jack Dolan, Victoria Kim, Shane Goldmacher, Lee Romney and Michael J. Mishak contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

State Supreme Court justices

Members of the court who would serve with Tani Cantil-Sakauye, if she is approved, with their age, which governor appointed them and when:

Joyce L. Kennard

George Deukmejian

1989