Chief Justice of California Supreme Court Leaves Republican Party After Kavanaugh Confirmation
I’M OUTTA HERE
“I felt compelled to make a choice now.”
Robert Galbraith/Reuters
Chief Justice of California’s Supreme Court Tani Cantil-Sakauye announced Thursday that she had left the Republican Party after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed, CALmatters reports. “I felt compelled to make a choice now,” she was quoted as saying in a phone interview. She said she had made up her mind after watching Kavanaugh's U.S. Senate confirmation hearings, which were held amid an uproar after a former classmate, Christine Blasey Ford, accused him of sexual assault. Kavanaugh denied the allegations, and Ford was widely vilified by many of the judge’s supporters, including Republican lawmakers and President Trump himself. “You can draw your own conclusions,” Cantil-Sakauye said. She told CALmatters that she talked about the issue with her husband and friends, and the consensus was that “you didn’t leave the party. The party left you.” She said she has now registered as a no-party-preference voter. “It better suits what I do and how I approach issues,” she said.