SAN FRANCISCO – The Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area (AABA) and the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California (FBANC) applaud the evaluation of Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye issued by the California State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation. The JNE Commission on Monday issued a written evaluation of Justice Cantil-Sakauye, finding her exceptionally well qualified, the Commission’s highest rating.

Justice Cantil-Sakauye has been nominated to serve as California’s Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The three-member Commission on Judicial Appointments, headed by current Chief Justice Ronald M. George, will hold a hearing today in the Supreme Court Courtroom of the Earl Warren Building in San Francisco to determine whether the will confirm Justice Cantil-Sakauye’s nomination. At the hearing, the JNE Commission will present their written report and local community leaders, including FBANC President Genevieve Dong, will offer their supporting testimony.

“Justice Cantil-Sakauye’s confirmation would be particularly meaningful to the API community,” said Billy Chan, AABA President, “in part because of her devotion to serving the public and our community, but also because Justice Cantil-Sakauye is an outstanding jurist with an excellent reputation in the legal community.” She has embraced her responsibilities as a mentor, a role model, and an inspiration to Asian Pacific American (APA) attorneys and judges – not only locally, but on a national scale as well. Her involvement with law students and young lawyers – particularly API lawyers – has been long-standing. Further, because of her outstanding achievements, commitment, and strong leadership in the legal profession and beyond, she has paved the way for the advancement of other APA attorneys and judges. Justice Cantil-Sakauye has received many awards, including the Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association in 2003.

Justice Cantil-Sakauye’s confirmation would also have a historic significance to our community. The California Supreme Court is the forum of many landmark decisions since the 1800s that have affected Asian Pacific Americans, including Tape v. Hurley. California serves one of the largest populations of APAs and has a 53% population of color. Yet, as FBANC President Genevieve Dong points out, “for over 150 years, no Asian American has ever served as the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. In fact, no Asian American has ever served as chief justice for any state high court in the continental United States, and no Filipino American has ever served on any state high court in the continental United States.”

AABA and FBANC unconditionally support the nomination of Justice Cantil-Sakauye and urge the Commission to confirm.

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The Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area (AABA) was founded in 1976 to provide Asian American attorneys with a vehicle for the unified expression of opinions and positions on matters of concern to all Asian American attorneys. AABA also encourages and promotes the professional growth of its members, serves the Asian American and minority community, and fosters the exchange of ideas and information among its members and with the legal community at large, to encourage and to promote the professional growth of its members, and to foster the exchange of ideas and information among its members and with the legal community at large.

The Filipino Bar Association of Northern California (FBANC) was founded in 1980, and it is their mission to support, educate, encourage, and empower the members of the association to excel and succeed in their educational and professional endeavors. It is further their mission to guard against injustices targeting the Filipino community. To that end, FBANC serves its community with legal clinics and seminars, and serves its membership through scholarships and networking events. FBANC is driven by the membership, led by the Board of Officers, and guided by the Board of Advisors. FBANC is a social and networking association of attorneys, students, and legal professionals located throughout Northern California.

The 50-year-old Sacramento appeals court justice breezed to confirmation Wednesday to succeed Chief Justice Ronald George, who is stepping down on Jan. 2 after a 14-year tenure as the powerful leader of the state’s judiciary. Cantil-Sakauye will now be on the November ballot for election to a 12-year term, and she is not expected to encounter any meaningful opposition.

Indeed, Cantil-Sakauye’s hearing on Wednesday was more coronation than confirmation. A three-member commission made up of George, Attorney General Jerry Brown and veteran appeals court Justice Joan Dempsey Klein unanimously approved her and praised her credentials, and a host of witnesses lined up to vouch for her skills as a judge and leader.

Just two witnesses testified against her, including one who described himself as a “clown community activist” from San Bernardino County who bemoaned the fact he was forced to take off a clown suit to appear at the hearing.

With her husband and two daughters beside her, Cantil-Sakauye was often described as a historical figure during the hearing, the daughter of former farmworkers who is on the brink of becoming the state’s first Filipina justice and forging the first majority of women on the state’s highest court.

“The shock and awe of it hasn’t really worn off,” she said after the hearing.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated Cantil-Sakauye in July, just a week after George unexpectedly announced he was retiring. The governor named Cantil-Sakauye to a Sacramento appeals court in 2005, and she previously was a trial judge in Sacramento, a prosecutor, and a legal affairs deputy for former Gov. George Deukmejian. She was just 30 years old when she became a judge.

As chief justice, she would become a crucial member of a court that has often been divided on contentious issues such as same-sex marriage, with George in the past serving in many instances as the decisive vote. Cantil-Sakauye also would head the state’s Judicial Council, the policy arm of the state’s court system, an increasingly tough job as the state confronts budget deficits and the courts are called upon to cut spending. She already has served as a member of the council.

George, after the vote, told Cantil-Sakauye she brings “a unique blend of experience” to the chief justice role. And Klein, considered a pioneering woman in the state’s legal ranks, stressed the importance of her “responsibility to yourself and your gender.”

“I sense in you that you have confidence in yourself,” she told Cantil-Sakauye.

Colleagues and friends on Wednesday described her as a perfect fit for the chief justice job, someone who tackles legal issues with passion, as well as coaches volleyball and co-chairs her daughter’s local youth basketball league.

A Sacramento prosecutor highlighted the fact she was the first judge in the nation to sign off on an arrest warrant in a sexual assault case based solely on a suspect’s DNA. And leaders of various Filipino groups praised her precedent-setting move to the top of the legal profession.

“The historic nature of this confirmation cannot be overstated,” Genevieve Dong, president of Northern California’s Filipino Bar Association, told the commission.

After the hearing, Cantil-Sakauye chose her words carefully, refusing to weigh in on the hot-button issues that face the chief justice and Supreme Court. She declined to comment on the same-sex marriage question, citing the possibility it can return to the court in some form. And she would say say only she will study the issue of the state’s backlogged death penalty system, which George has called “dysfunctional.”

Cantil-Sakauye also said she had not yet considered how actively she will campaign for the November election. Supreme Court justices typically have no trouble getting the 50 percent vote they need to retain their jobs, with the exception of the 1986 election, when Chief Justice Rose Bird and two other justices were tossed off the court in a voter revolt over their refusal to uphold death sentences.