Tani Cantil-Sakauye Sacramento Family Court Alumnus Earns Worst Supreme Court Opinion Runner-Up Title

Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye Supreme Court Opinion Called 2nd Worst of 2012-2013 Term

California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye
formerly was a Sacramento County Family Court judge.

A California Supreme Court opinion authored by former Sacramento Family Court Judge Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye was called the second-worst opinion of the 96 rulings issued over the high court's 2012-2013 term, according to an annual review published in the August issue of California Lawyer. 

Cantil-Sakauye was appointed to the Sacramento Municipal Court by Governor George Deukmejian in 1990, and elevated to the superior court in 1997 by Governor Pete Wilson. That same year, she established and presided over the first court in Sacramento dedicated solely to domestic violence issues. 

She was elevated to the 3rd District Court of Appeal in 2005, and in 2010 nominated to be Chief Justice of the state's highest court by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Cantil-Sakauye was sworn into office as Chief Justice of California on January 3, 2011. In an annual review of California Supreme Court opinions, Gerald Uelmen, a Santa Clara University Law Professor and Director of the Edwin A. Heafey Jr. Center for Trial and Appellate Advocacy at the university singled out Cantil-Sakauye's opinion in People v. Aranda as nearly the worst of the 2012-2013 decisions.

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