SACRAMENTO, California?Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has nominated Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye as the next Chief Justice of California. If elected, she would be the first Asian and Filipino-American Chief Justice of the state.
?As a jurist, a woman and a Filipina, I?m extremely grateful for the trust Governor Schwarzenegger has placed in me,? said the Los Angeles Times, quoting Sakauye.
According to several biographies, the 50-year-old Sakauye came from a modest background.
Her Filipino mother was a farm worker and her Filipino-Portuguese father worked in the sugarcane and pineapple plantations of Hawaii before moving to Sacramento.
She is active in the Methodist Church, Girl Scouts and an Asian athletic foundation in Sacramento. She is a Republican, is married to a Sacramento police lieutenant and has two children.
The California governor recently appointed Sakauye to head a Judicial Council committee charged with overseeing the operations of the Administrative Office of the Courts, which runs the court system.
Born on Oct. 19, 1959, Sakauye obtained her law degree from University of California?s Davis Martin Luther King Jr. School of Law in 1984.
After graduating from McClatchy High School in 1977, she attended Sacramento City College as a speech and debate major and graduated with an associate degree in 1978.
In 1980, she obtained her bachelor?s degree with honors in rhetoric from UC Davis.
She was an assistant legal counsel and deputy legislative secretary to Gov. George Deukmejian from 1988 to 1989, before being appointed to the Sacramento County Municipal Court by Deukmejian in 1990?the youngest judge to sit on the bench.
In 1997, she was elevated to the Sacramento County Superior Court by Gov. Pete Wilson. In 2005, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated her to the 3rd District Court of Appeals.
As a judge, Sakauye also presided over Sacramento?s first domestic violence court, and also sat as a member of the Judicial Council.
Sakauye grew up in Sacramento with her Filipino mother and her Filipino-Portuguese father. She is married to Sacramento Police Lt. Mark Sakauye, with whom she has two daughters.
Her nomination must be affirmed by a three-member panel headed by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, who is retiring in January, and then by voters in November. Such nominations are usually routinely approved.
?She is a living example of the American dream and when she is confirmed ... she will be adding to our high court?s already rich diversity,? Schwarzenegger said. Reports from abs-cbnnews.com, latimes.com, sacbar.org and Kate Pedroso, Inquirer Research
