Noting “unprecedented disruption” on the “national front” and threats to the rule of law and to judicial independence, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye at her (almost) annual State of the Judiciary speech this afternoon called on the Legislature to help provide a “fair, accessible justice system.” She said “California’s right to govern its own affairs” is now being litigated in federal court and said the State’s “bolder way is still our way forward.”
Among other things, the Chief Justice cited then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s Congressional testimony that the money bail system is a “vehicle for systematic injustice” and she labeled that over-half-century-old statement a “clarion call for justice” in 2018. She highlighted the recommendations of the Pretrial Detention Reform Workgroup that she established.
The Chief Justice also spoke about the report of the Futures Commission, which presented new ideas for the judicial branch; about an anticipated “onslaught” of civil cases, some stemming from the 45,000 recently filed fire insurance claims; and about the need for expanding courthouse self-help centers, including funding “legal wayfinders” to assist unrepresented litigants.
