Fw: [pinoy-abroad-forum] Future Fil-Am chief justice of California used to be a blackjack dealer

After the infamous free-the-hostage-turned-lethal-comedy-of-errors-operation, good news comes in the person of a Fil-Am - as the next chief justice of the California Supreme Court.

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Sent: Thu, August 26, 2010 11:34:06 PM
Subject: [pinoy-abroad-forum] Future Fil-Am chief justice of California used to be a blackjack dealer

 

The first Filipino-American nominated as the next chief justice of the California Supreme Court is well on the way towards assuming the office.
 
Justice Tani Cantil Sakaueye's name will now be placed on the ballot where she will stand for election on
Nov. 2, 2010. In a press release the Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that if the majority of

voters will approve, then she will begin serving as the 28th Chief  Justice of California on January 3, next year.
 
The California court website states that Associate Justice Tani Cantil Sakauye served 14 years as a judge on the Sacramento court. In 1990, Governor George Deukmejian appointed her to the Municipal Court, in 1997 Governor Pete Wilson elevated her to the Superior Court, and in 2005 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

nominated her to the Court of Appeals Third Appellate District where she was unanimously confirmed by the

Commission on Judicial Appointments. 

 

Meanwhile, Wikipedia has an interesting entry about the future chief justice. It says that the former Tani Gorre Cantil, who earned her J.D. from UC Davis School of Law in 1984, was unable to find a job in law upon

graduation so she became a blackjack dealer in Reno, Nevada. The Sacramento County Public Defender's

Office had refused to hire her because she was too young. Later that same year, future Sacramento County

Superior Court Judge Russell Hom recruited Cantil to come to the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office as a deputy district attorney. In 1988, Cantil left that office to become a deputy legal affairs secretary to Governor  Deukmejian. Deukmejian appointed her as a deputy legislative secretary the following year and in 1990, as a Municipal Court judge.

 

In July this year Justice Cantil-Sakauye was nominated by Governor  Schwarzenegger to be the next chief

justice. She was rated as "exceptionally well qualified" by the State Bar's Commission on Judicial Nominees

Evaluation last August 23 and soon after was unanimously confirmed to be the next chief justice by the state

Commission on Judicial Appointments.

 

Governor Schwarzenegger issued the following statement:
 
"Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye is immensely qualified to be the next Chief Justice of California and I applaud the Commission on Judicial Appointments 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."

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