If confirmed and she wins the November 2 ballot, Associate Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye will become the highest Filipino-American to hold a judicial position in the United States.

A daughter of a Filipino farmer, who rose through the trial courts in the United States, was nominated by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Wednesday as his choice for Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court.

If confirmed and she wins the November 2 ballot, Associate Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye will become the highest Filipino-American to hold a judicial position in the United States. Such nominations are usually routinely approved.

The vacancy will be created by the retirement of Chief Justice Ronald M. George on January 2, 2011.

The compensation for this position is $238,010 annually.

In a press statement released from the state capitol in Sacramento, California, Governor Schwarzenegger cited Cantil-Sakauye's distinguished history of public service, describing her as someone who “understands that the role of a justice is not to create law, but to independently and fairly interpret and administer the law.”

“She is a living example of the ‘American Dream’ and when she is confirmed by the voters in November, Judge Cantil-Sakauye will become California’s first Filipina Chief Justice, adding to our High Court’s already rich diversity,” the California governor said.

The Governor’s nomination for Chief Justice must be submitted to the State Bar’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, and confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. Once confirmed by the commission, the nominee will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot for voter approval.

Cantil-Sakauye's Filipina mother was a farm worker, and her Filipino-Portuguese father, born in Hawaii, worked in sugarcane and pineapple plantations before moving to Sacramento.

One magazine article in the US which came out in 2007 narrated that “like children of itinerant farm workers in California’s Central Valley, her mother, one of 11 siblings, had a sporadic education because she and her family followed the harvest, often having to pull out of school in the middle of the term. Despite these difficulties, they were taught to value education, to get as much learning as they could, and to appreciate these and other aspects of Filipino culture. In turn, she and her husband passed these values on to Tani and her siblings.”

A graduate of C.K. McClatchy High School, Cantil-Sakauye earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis.

While in law school, Cantil-Sakauye dealt blackjack during summers and weekends at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe so she can continue her studies. She also worked as a waitress.

She once served as deputy legislative secretary and deputy legal affairs secretary under former Gov. George Deukmejian. He later appointed her as a municipal court judge for the Sacramento County Municipal Court from 1990 to 1997.

From 1997 to 2004, former Gov. Pete Wilson named Cantil-Sakauye to the Sacramento County Superior Court, while Schwarzenegger elevated her to the Court of Appeals in Sacramento, the position she has been occupying since 2005.

Cantil-Sakauye is a member of the California Judicial Council, and is vice chair of the Rules and Projects Committee and Judicial Recruitment and Retention Working Group. She is a member of the Commission on Impartial Courts, chair of the Judicial Branch Financial Accountability, and Efficiency Advisory Committee and president of the Anthony M. Kennedy Inn of Court.

She is married to Sacramento Police Lieutenant Mark Sakauye, who works in Overseas Regional Transit Security. They have two daughters, Hana, 14, and Claire, 11.

If Cantil-Sakauye, a Republican, were confirmed, the court would be composed of four women and three men. Six of the current justices are Republicans, all appointed by Republican governors. The lone Democrat, Justice Carlos Moreno, was appointed by Gov. Gray Davis in 2001.

“It is a privilege and a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to serve as Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court,” said Cantil-Sakauye. “I have had the distinct pleasure of being a municipal court judge, a superior court judge, and an appellate court justice. Being nominated to serve on the highest court in California is a dream come true. I deeply respect the inspirational and visionary work of Chief Justice  Ronald George and hope to build upon it. As a jurist, woman and a Filipina, I am extremely grateful for the trust Governor Schwarzenegger has placed in me. I hope to show young people what they can achieve if they follow their dreams and reach for their full potential.”

In an interview in 2005 she said her philosophy in life is “There is no one truth, only versions of it.”

“My philosophy is to really listen closely to what people have to say and try to balance it with everything they’ve told me and give them a fair shot to tell me what they’re thinking… If I let them ramble a bit, point them in a direction, I learn why that person is there much better than in a question-and-answer format,” Cantil-Sakauye said.

Legal luminaries in California were one in heaping praise for her nomination to the state's highest court.

Malcolm Segal, a Sacramento litigator, said he thought Schwarzenegger’s choice would please lawyers.

“Her reputation in the legal community is that she has a wonderful ability to get along with people and to bring different views together,” Segal said. “And she has, I am told, a great deal of personal charm and wit, and that’s what it takes to run a court in a complex judicial system.”

Justice Marvin Baxter, a conservative member of the state high court and whom Cantil-Sakauye worked with on the Judicial Council, said he is very much impressed “in the manner in which she gets to the meat of the coconut on issues" adding that her judicial rulings reveal her to be “a very independent thinker.”

“She knows when to listen and when to talk. She has been very, very effective for a relatively new member of the council,” Baxter said.

Cantil-Sakauye is noted for one case in particular wherein she dissented in a ruling that said the city of Sacramento was not liable for an alleged sexual assault by two city firefighters. The alleged assault occurred at a costume ball attended by two firefighters who drove their fire trucks to the event, where, the plaintiff said, they drank and flirted.