10.1: Introduction

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Former California Supreme Court Chief Tani Cantil-Sakauye (public domain; Corkythehornetfan via Wikimedia)

 

Learning Objectives

• To describe the role and organization of the California judiciary.
• To describe how judges are selected.
• To analyze the growth in descriptive representation in the judiciary.
• To describe the decision-making processes of the California Supreme Court.
• To analyze the leadership of two Chief Justices: Rose Bird and Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye.

Introduction

In the early morning hours on January 18, 2015, behind a dumpster on the campus of Stanford University, nineteen-year-old student-athlete Brock Turner sexually assaulted unconscious twenty-two-year-old Chanel Miller. He was sentenced to a jail term of six months by Judge Aaron Persky, served three, and returned to his home in Ohio. He was now a lifetime registered sex offender.

Outraged by the lenient sentence, Stanford Law Professor Michele Dauber led the effort to recall Judge Persky. The recall law required her to submit the valid signatures of 20% of the people who voted in the last Santa Clara County Superior Court election (58,634 for the 2018 June 5 ballot). The campaign gathered almost twice this number (Brassil). Persky's defenders pointed out that the judge was merely following the probation department's recommendation. The public defender's office and the district attorney also opposed his recall, calling it an example of public hysteria and a threat to judicial independence. Nonetheless, Santa Clara County voters recalled him with a vote of 62% to 38%. He was the first California Superior Court judge recalled in eighty years. ("Aaron Persky").

This case shows the California courts' role and the controversy surrounding them. We expect our judicial system to reasonably interpret and apply the law and not be swayed by political pressures from other government branches or public opinion. Historically, independence has been the norm, but periodic unhappiness with the courts' performance leads to headline-grabbing episodes where politics disrupt the practice of law, sometimes leading to the removal of judges and even California Supreme Court justices by disgruntled voters.

The Brock Turner case raises more general questions about the role of the court system as it administers and interprets the law. Even if you are not the victim (or perpetrator) of a terrible crime such as that of Brock Turner, you are likely to be involved with the court system in many ways. This chapter discusses the role and organization of the courts in California and the selection of judges. We also consider the responsibilities of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by describing the tenures of two former Chief Justices: Rose Bird and Tani Cantil-Sakauye.