Retired California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye

You Make Your Joy

Tani Cantil-Sakauye was the 28th Chief Justice of the State of California. The first Asian Filipina American and the second woman to serve as the state’s chief justice, she is the current president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. Before sitting on the panel for “What Makes a Great California Idea?,” part of the inaugural CalMatters Ideas Festival, Cantil-Sakauye joined us in the green room to talk about humor, mediation, and the “Sackamenna Kid.”

June 21, 2024

Will the Supreme Court Give the President More Immunity Than a Roman Emperor?

Two Centuries of Ancient Legal Scholarship Applied the Same Laws to Leaders as Everyone Else

by Edward Watts | May 2, 2024

I have been studying and writing about Roman emperors for more than 30 years. I never imagined I would live in a time and place where the judicial system might …

The Troublesome Federal Judge Who Was Never Disciplined by Congress, His Peers, or the Press

What the Career of the Nation’s Longest-Seated Jurist Tells Us About the Judicial System

by Joe Mathews | August 6, 2019

While we should not rejoice at the death of Manuel Real, his passing offers some good news: At long last, California’s most troublesome federal judge is off the bench.

Unfortunately, the …

How the US Military Taught Americans to Smoke

A 1918 Policy Devised to Calm Soldiers’ Nerves Sparked a Bad Habit That Was Difficult to Stop

by Joel R. Bius | August 5, 2019

Mention of the American military-industrial complex conjures up images of massive weapons procurement programs and advanced technologies: supersonic bombers, strategic missiles, armor-plated tanks, nuclear submarines, and complex space systems. However, …

What the Devil Is Up With People Who Believe in Satan?

When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Professed a Belief In Lucifer, It Caused Gasps and Titters Among the Elite. But His Point Should Be Taken Seriously.

by Jeffrey Burton Russell | November 25, 2013

When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently told New York magazine that he believed in the devil, some readers seemed to view this statement as further proof that Scalia …

A Mathematician, Miranda Rights, and Those Darn Millennials

December 12, 2012

The nutshell: Mathematician Dorothy Wrinch, the first woman to receive a doctor of science degree from Oxford, was a friend of Bertrand Russell, a pioneer in the study of proteins, …

The State of Golden State Innovation

At “What Makes a Great California Idea?,” Panelists Discussed the Big Ideas—Good and Bad—That Originated Here

What California Festivals Need–More Garlic, Less Gaga

In a State Overrun with Coachella Clones, Small and Local Beats Big and Corporate

The Verdict Is in—California’s Dickensian Courts Are Failing Us

Our Clogged Legal System Creates Overcrowded Prisons, Underfunded Schools, and Housing Shortages

Justice Scalia Is Right. California Isn’t the Real West

But With Immigration Flatlining and the Climate Drying up, It May Soon Be

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