Tani Cantil-Sakauye, chief justice of the California Supreme Court, is giving up her Republican Party registration. The cause, she explained, was the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
But Cantil-Sakauye was not disturbed by the sleazy charges Democrats unleashed against the Trump nominee, which evidently she believed. Instead, California’s chief justice wondered why Republicans would bring in a female prosecutor to question Christine Blasey Ford. Perhaps to find out if her story that a drunken Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her was true or false? Though that is hardly all this jurist doesn’t get.
Last year Cantil-Sakauye wrote a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Secretary John Kelly stating: “As Chief Justice of California responsible for the safe and fair delivery of justice in our state, I am deeply concerned about reports from some of our trial courts that immigration agents appear to be stalking undocumented immigrants in our courthouses to make arrests. Our courthouses serve as a vital forum for ensuring access to justice and protecting public safety. Courthouses should not be used as bait in the necessary enforcement of our country’s immigration laws.” It was all unsafe, unfair, and so on.
Sessions and Kelly replied that “stalking” has “specific legal meaning in American law,” and it was “criminal activity.” On the other hand, “the arrest of persons in a public place based on probable cause has long been upheld by the United States Supreme Court,” as U.S. v. Watson confirmed. Federal statutes authorize arrests where probable cause exists to believe that “such aliens are in violation of immigration laws.” Courthouses are not only public places, but visitors are screened for weapons, Sessions and Kelly wrote, therefore “the safety risks for the arresting officers are substantially decreased.”
Besides her apparent ignorance of the law, Cantil-Sakauye also overlooked recent cases of violent criminals who should not have been in the United States, who remained at large, and who murdered police officers and innocent civilians. These criminals include Mexican national Luis Bracamontes who gunned down Sacramento deputy Danny Oliver, detective Michael Davis and wounded motorist Anthony Holmes, an African American. In court, Bracamontes said he wished he would have killed more “motherf—ing” police officers, deployed the N-word, and told the jury “black lives don’t matter.”
Repeatedly deported Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez was in custody but not turned over to ICE. In July 2015, this illegal felon gunned down Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier. The state Supreme Court is in San Francisco but the killing of an innocent 32-year-old woman did not prompt Tani Cantil-Sakauye to write a letter challenging the city’s sanctuary policies. For this chief justice, ICE agents are the bad guys.
Last week, Cantil-Sakauye describe herself open-minded on social justice issues and praised the judicial appointments of Governor Jerry Brown as “people-centric” and “underdog-centric.” It was all about “what are we going to do about homelessness, what are we going to do about climate, what are we going to do about guns.” Reporters recalled that Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had nominated Cantil-Sakauye in 2010, but there’s a back story to that move.
According to a longtime friend of Arnold, the governor outsourced his judicial selections to his wife Maria Shriver, a Democrat insider of high standing. That would also explain other key choices.
State director of finance is an important position that merits an experienced economist with a Ph.D. or a master’s degree. Arnold’s pick was Ana Matosantos, a Puerto Rican with a B.A. in political science and feminist studies. Besides the meager qualifications and lack of experience, her hiring also defied state law, Proposition 209, which forbids racial and ethnic preferences in state employment, education, and contracting.
In 2011, Matosantos was busted for drunk driving and offered to resign but incoming governor Jerry Brown kept her on the job. Covered California, the state’s wholly owned subsidiary of Obamacare, picked up Matosantos for $20,000 a month. Her wealthy family has been embroiled in a conflict of interest case in Puerto Rico, but incoming governor Gavin Newsom has now hired Matosantos as his cabinet secretary.
Meanwhile, Tani Cantil-Sakauye was not California’s first female chief justice. During the 1974 election campaign, Rose Bird served as Jerry Brown’s campaign chauffeur. She was only 40 and without judicial experience but Brown picked her for chief justice.
In 10 years as chief justice, Bird heard 64 capital cases and never voted to uphold a death sentence. Even for staunch death-penalty opponents, including those on the court, it defied belief to think that every case was unfounded. The cases included that of Theodore Frank, duly convicted of kidnapping, torturing, raping, murdering and mutilating two-year-old Amy Sue Seitz in 1978.
On November 4, 1986, California voters ousted Rose Bird by a margin of 67 to 33 percent. California voters also ousted Justices Cruz Reynoso and Joseph Grodin, both Brown appointees, who sided with Bird on the death-penalty cases.
In similar style, Tani Cantil-Sakauye keeps quiet when racist criminal illegals murder Americans but gets agitated when ICE agents arrest criminal illegals in courthouses. She also finds it disturbing that anybody would question the wild accusations against Brett Kavanaugh. Tani Cantil-Sakauye has changed her registration from Republican to “no party.” A better description for this Rose Bird clone might be “no justice, no peace.”
Photo credit: NBC Los Angeles