At the conclusion of the Supreme Court’s December calendar this afternoon, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye’s six colleagues took turns to individually praise her as she ended her last courtroom appearance as the court’s leader. Speaking in order of seniority during a half-hour proceeding, the associate justices were at times emotional in their appreciations.
Justice Carol Corrigan said Cantil-Sakauye “took the reins” when “there was a budgetary crisis, internal conflict, and external skepticism,” but that she “met all those titanic challenges . . . with grace and grit, with wisdom, patience, and genuine and consistent good humor.” Corrigan said the Chief Justice “stabilized and then rejuvenated the entire third branch of government.” Inside the court itself, Corrigan related, Cantil-Sakauye has been “the hub of the wheel to make sure that the court hums along in harmony.” She also said to the Chief Justice, “you bravely often took the toughest cases of all for yourself.” (Related: “Chief Justice says she sometimes takes one for the team.”)
More than one justice recognized the Chief Justice for her repeated public criticisms of the federal government during the prior administration for making immigration arrests at California courthouses. (See, e.g., here.) Justice Joshua Groban read the text of what he called the “courageous” letter she sent to the U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security that had told the feds to stop “stalking undocumented immigrants.” (See here.) Justice Corrigan said Cantil-Sakauye “took brave stands to emphasize . . . that everyone has a right to feel safe and unmolested when they come to our courtrooms.” “That was a pretty gutsy thing to do,” Corrigan remarked.
Justice Goodwin Liu claimed that “to say Tani is a role model is kind of like saying Gandhi had a little bit of virtue” and that she is “smart, modest, hard working, ethical, and fair; she’s also careful, savvy, always three steps ahead, warm, welcoming, and unflappable.”
Justice Leondra Kruger called Cantil-Sakauye a “visionary leader of California’s judicial branch” and a “remarkable, courageous, and compassionate leader” of the court. She lauded the Chief Justice’s “sense of collegiality and collaboration that’s been the hallmark of [her] service.”
Justice Martin Jenkins disclosed that Cantil-Sakauye has been his “personal confidant” and his “champion like no other” when he was deciding whether to leave the Court of Appeal to become Governor Newsom’s appointments secretary and then overcoming doubts about whether to return to the judiciary as a Supreme Court justice.
Chief Justice-elect Patricia Guerrero thanked Cantil-Sakauye for her “strong and visionary leadership of the courts, [her] resilience, courage, grace, and humility, and mentorship.” She noted that the Chief Justice has “focused throughout [her] career on equal and fair access to justice.”
Speaking — as is her custom — without notes, Cantil-Sakauye told her colleagues how “privileged” and “blessed” she was to have gotten to know and to serve with them. She advised Guerrero to follow “a winning formula: just listen, learn, and you can’t go wrong with six other brilliant people.” She thanked the other justices for “the thrill of a lifetime.”
[December 8 update: Video of the post-argument proceeding is here.]