Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye
Supreme Court of California
Chief Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye is the 28th Chief Justice of the State of California. She was sworn into office on January 3, 2011, and is the first Asian-Filipina American and the second woman to serve as the state’s chief justice.
Before her elevation to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye served for more than 20 years on California appellate and trial courts. In 1990, Governor George Deukmejian appointed her to the Sacramento Municipal Court and in 1997; Governor Pete Wilson elevated her to the Superior Court of Sacramento County, where she presided over both criminal and civil cases. In 1997, she established and presided over the first court in Sacramento dedicated solely to domestic violence issues. In addition, then-Judge Cantil-Sakauye chaired the court’s criminal law committee and was a member of the presiding judge’s task force on domestic violence and the Home Court committee. In 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger nominated her to the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District.
A Sacramento native, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye attended C. K. McClatchy High School and Sacramento City College, before graduating with honors from the University of California, Davis. After taking a year off to visit her ancestral homeland, the Philippines, the Chief Justice began law school, receiving her JD from the UC Davis, Martin Luther King, Jr., School of Law. She worked as a deputy district attorney for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, and then served on the senior staff of Governor Deukmejian, first as deputy legal affairs secretary and later as a deputy legislative secretary.
She is married to Mark Sakauye, a retired police lieutenant. They have two daughters.
- Justice
- Supreme Court of California
- - Current
- currently Chief Justice
- Judge
- California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District
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- Judge
- Sacramento County Court
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- University of California - Davis
- undergraduate degree
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- University of California - Davis
- J.D.
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- Toastmasters Communication and Leadership Award
- Toastmasters International District 39
- Women’s Leadership Award
- National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA)
- Women’s Human Rights Award for Law
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
- Judge of the Year Award
- Western San Bernardino County Bar Association
- Public Interest Excellence Award
- Public Interest Law Foundation
- California Judges Association
- Member
- Current
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- National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
- Member
- Current
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- Sacramento Asian Bar Association
- Member
- Current
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- Conference of Chief Justices
- Board of Directors
- Current
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- The American Law Institute
- Member
- Current
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- Judicial Council of California
- Member
- - Current
- Activities: Chair of the Advisory Committee on Financial Accountability and Efficiency for the Judicial Branch, member of the Domestic Violence Practice and Procedure Task Force, chair of Best Practices Domestic Violence subcommittee, vice-chair of the Executive and Planning Committee, vice-chair of the Rules and Projects Committee, co-chair of the Judicial Recruitment and Retention Working Group, and member of the Commission for Impartial Courts Implementation Committee
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- Annual Meeting of the State Bar
- http://www.courts.ca.gov/15365.htm
- State of the Judiciary Address
- http://www.courts.ca.gov/17301.htm
- Annual Meeting of the State Bar
- http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/transcript-state-bar_address.pdf
- State of the Judiciary Address
- http://www.courts.ca.gov/21268.htm
- State of the Judiciary Address
- http://www.courts.ca.gov/25454.htm
