“Every generation is responsible for creating democracy anew, a democracy that is relevant and responsive to the needs of that generation. One that expands upon and completes the previous work of the prior generation. In my view, the civil rights movement that began in the ’50s remains unfinished. Daily we hear in the news about actions like #Blacklivesmatter, #Metoo, and #Timesup—just to name a few. Frederick Douglass said, “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, or degrade them, neither person nor property is safe.”…We must ensure that income inequality doesn’t translate into a two-tiered justice system.” – California Chief Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye during the March 2019 State of the Judiciary Address.
“We would gladly sacrifice our lives to protect and uphold the principles and ideals of our country as set forth in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, for on its inviolability depends the freedom, liberty, justice and protection of all people including Japanese Americans and all other minority groups.” – The Fair Play Committee at Heart Mountain concentration camp, 1944.
Do you get a sense as to how far folks have journeyed to be part of this assembled group?
An individual who was once farmworker child herself and who self-identifies as such at past Filipino American community events is now the chief justice of the highest court in California, making policy and court decisions affecting Californians.
Nearly two hundred had packed a modest-sized ballroom on Tuesday, June 4, while Supreme Court Police stood guard in one corner, waiting for the California Supreme Court justices to join in.
This 65-year tradition reflects solid relationships between the Beverly Hills Bar Association (BHBA) and the California Supreme Court, honoring the Chief Justice and the six Associate Justices and the association granting scholarships to law school students.
Spring greeted guests, as the lobby was well-decorated with purple, pink, hybrid pink and white phalaenopsis orchids, green hydrangea surrounding yellow roses, yellow and orange gladiolus bordered by green hydrangeas at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills.
A spring-themed lunch was served: compressed salad of watermelon, heirloom tomatoes, olives, pepita, pickled onion, torn soft herbs, lemon vinaigrette with three-oz portions of chicken, salmon and skirt steak and tiramisu for dessert.
Conversations were easy; judges were accessible to talk to, as were lawyers, law school deans and law school scholars. It was warm and inclusive. Camaraderie was the currency, as folks kept mingling.
I noticed an early comer, Graham Sherr, Loyola Law School’s assistant dean.
I asked him, “Do you know Ollie Cantos, one of Loyola Law School’s outstanding alumni?”
“You mean Olegario?” I was impressed considering he, given decades of teaching, must have taught thousands. He was easy to remember, as there were not many blind students with that uncommon self-reliance, he added.
Arelis Clemente, a third-year law scholar walked in. I congratulated her. She has an interest in immigration and civil rights, to serve the underrepresented, since she served low-income families as a Scholar in Service. Her parents came here 20 years ago as immigrants – her mom is currently working in Delano, picking grapes from the vineyards, while her dad is a butcher.
“Did you know that the Chief Justice introduces herself as a farmworker child?” She got excited when I told her that.
Chris Punongbayan described young changemakers like Arelis and the young legal scholars as those “who will right the historical wrongs,” when he became California Change Lawyers’ executive director.
In his published online interview, Punongbayan asserted that “our legal system is run primarily by white lawyers despite the fact that California is over 60 percent people of color. Our criminal justice system disproportionately incarcerates and punishes black and brown communities. Our civil justice system regularly denies access to anyone who doesn’t have money to hire a lawyer.”
That analysis was echoed by Joshua Bobrowsky, a past scholarship recipient, who now works for LA County’s Dept. of Public Health as the Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs to underscore the gaps in diversity.
With tuition at UCLA at $48,000 per year and $25,000 living expenses, he described that the scholarship lessens the financial burdens and gives law students an opportunity to participate in community service. He was able to participate in slum housing litigation and help a client obtain health coverage, one whose limited means burdened her in having to choose to buy her prescriptions or dental work.
State of the judiciary
Cantil-Sakauye credited the solid support of the BHBA when the judiciary’s budgets were destabilized by the state’s economic conditions. It took stalwart support from the BHBA to stabilize the judiciary’s funding. Former Governor Jerry Brown was also credited with a strong support of the judiciary as he made 600 judicial appointments during his gubernatorial tenure, 200 of them in his last year.
That strong support is even made stronger by Governor Gavin Newsom’s California budget for 2019-2020, that the chief justice shared her response in May 2019 in their website: “The Governor’s revision to the state budget proposal reflects his deep support for our goal of achieving equal access to justice for all Californians—wherever they live.”
Do you get a sense that California moved forward when Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Cantil-Sakauye, the first Asian and Filipina American and the second woman to serve as the state’s chief justice?
The chief justice has led “with a 3D vision for justice: physical access to over 500 courthouses with 10 new safe and secure courthouses being built, online access to the courthouses via an app, video and with increased funding of innovative grants, 50 new projects using technology will be prototyped and tested.”
Prior to addressing the crowd, she introduced six of the Supreme Court’s associate justices: Hon. Ming Chin, Hon. Carol A. Corrigan, Hon. Goodwin H. Liu, Hon. Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Hon. Leondra R. Kruger and Hon. Joshua P. Groban.
She described how more litigants are choosing to have pro se legal representation and much of their settlements are negotiated in the hallways without adequate counsel for the rights at stake.
She shared a policy proposal called Wayfinders where folks can come to the courts, to get information, and to equip these litigants with skills to navigate the procedures and systems, without compromising fairness or due process.
Cantil-Sakauye’s “Power of Democracy initiative promotes civics literacy and engagement for both K-12 students an adults. And as a commitment to transparency, the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court began live webcasting its oral arguments in 2016,” according to the program booklet given to each attendee. This Supreme Court reportedly also decides with consensus.
She thanked, in particular, the exceptional leadership of Associate Justice Mariano Florentino Cuéllar, whom she chose to improve language diversity in the courthouses and to equip the courts with diverse interpreters, given that 200 languages are spoken in California.
Because of population growth in the Inland Empire, more judges are needed there. Newsom has provided funds for 25 new judges, and negotiations will determine their ultimate assignments.
Aside from technology, she stressed the human touch, a compassionate attitude and respect to help all those who come to the courthouses.
Public interest scholars
A video highlighted the meritorious public service of young scholars of different law schools and Chief Justice regarded the grooming of students as stars of Social Justice commendable. These legal scholars are Arelis Clemente (Loyola Law School), Ashley Denise Torres (Pepperdine School of Law), Celeste Sanchez (Southwestern Law School), Adam Oriel Cohen (UCLA) and Mirelle Raza (USC Gould School of Law).
Clemente became an extern at Public Counsel’s Immigrant Rights Project and allowed her to defend a client in removal proceedings in El Paso, Texas Immigration Court.
Torres was an extern for Judge Otis Wright II, and serves on the executive board for the Dispute Resolution Law Journal and the National Latina/o Law Student Association.
Sanchez volunteered at Southwestern’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Clinics; where she assisted families file their tax returns. As a 2L, she served as president of the Student Bar Association, a junior advocate in Trial Advocacy Honors Program and a peer mentor. This summer, she will be a certified law clerk for LA County DA’s office.
Cohen served as a CORO fellow and worked for Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. At UCLA, he participated in clinics focusing on youth, the criminal justice system, and LGBTQ rights.
Raza was hired by San Francisco DA’s office as a victim advocate, she specialized in child and adult sexual assault cases, with a focus on human trafficking and will be the incoming President of the Public Interest Law Foundation.
Cameron Sheldon is a recent graduate of UC Irvine School of Law. She won the 10th Rule of Law writing competition. Upon completion of her Fulbright, she worked for two years assisting children detained by immigration authorities in South Texas.
Danielle Kassatly of UC Davis School of Law and Elica Zadeh of Pepperdine School of Law were honorable mentions.
I also met Rose Hasnat, a Filipina has worked in legal marketing for 10 years now for Greins, Martin, Stein and Richland, LLP, a law firm who specializes in high court appeals and a scholarship donor for the event. She was particularly proud that her employer has won seven U.S. Supreme Court cases and appeals.
LaVonne Lawson, president of the BHBA welcomed Mayor John Mirisch, a dual Swedish-American citizen. He spoke of how our American values of tolerance, justice, truth and fairness are underappreciated these days. That though they may be under attack, he reminded us of our duty to make America much fairer. He teased the audience that though he is not a lawyer, he is an honorary member of The Los Angeles Lawyers’ Philharmonic and Legal Voices.
Linda Spiegel, the president of Beverly Hills Bar Foundation, underscored the foundation’s mission as advancing justice through community service and excellence. It was particularly gratifying that the luncheon gave much attention to its scholarship awardees and their work in public equity work, inclusion and volunteer community service, which they consider a “cornerstone of the foundation’s tradition of excellence.”
Marc Staenberg, CEO of the BHBA, attested to the solid relationship they have with the California Judiciary. BHBA advocates for civil rights and civil liberties for all of Californians.
In its website, “The BHBA has taken a leadership role on Prop 8 and the issue of same-sex marriage, from the early days of the case through the recent U.S. Supreme Court hearings. Our initial amicus brief, which drew wide support, focused on the important constitutional issues raised by the California case. Our most recent brief (filed in February, 2013) goes beyond the work of many others, by focusing not only on equality, but also on the rational basis of the case. To date, some 28,000 total attorneys from around the state have signed this influential brief.”
In March, I saw then-Gov. Jerry Brown coming out of Oakland Airport. I approached him to personally thank him for his progressive leadership in California. I told him that his leadership’s impact was felt where I lived in Southern California. He smiled, nodded and said, “I hope it stays that way.”
For us, the readers, we all share in the duty of being guardians of American democracy, that as American citizens, it is up to us to insist that those who appear before the courts, will have fairness, due process and access to the courts, regardless of where they live and that “income inequalities doesn’t translate into two-tiered justice system,” as Cantil-Sakauye told the crowd in her State of the Judiciary Address in March.
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Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz, J.D. writes a weekly column for Asian Journal, called “Rhizomes.” She has been writing for AJ Press for 10 years. She also contributes to Balikbayan Magazine. Her training and experiences are in science, food technology, law and community volunteerism for 4 decades. She holds a B.S. degree from the University of the Philippines, a law degree from Whittier College School of Law in California and a certificate on 21st Century Leadership from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She has been a participant in NVM Writing Workshops taught by Prof. Peter Bacho for 4 years and Prof. Russell Leong. She has travelled to France, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Costa Rica, Mexico and over 22 national parks in the US, in her pursuit of love for nature and the arts.
