California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye had been thinking of leaving the Republican Party for a long time, but the GOP's embrace of alleged attempted rapist Brett Kavanaugh sealed the deal.
The fallout from the Republican Party's enthusiastic embrace of alleged attempted rapist Brett Kavanaugh continues, as the chief justice of the California Supreme Court renounces the GOP.
Tani Cantil-Sakauye made her decision to change her official registration from "Republican" to "no party preference" after watching the contentious Senate confirmation hearings for Trump Supreme Court nominee and alleged sexual predator Kavanaugh, reports CALmatters, an online news organization.
"You can draw your own conclusions," she told the outlet in an interview. Catil-Sakauye, appointed to chief justice by former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is the first Filipina-American woman, and the second woman ever, to be chief justice in California.
Catil-Sakauye had been thinking of leaving the GOP "for some time," she said, but the Kavanaugh confirmation process was the final straw. Republicans vociferously defended Kavanaugh, despite multiple allegations of sexual assault — including testimony by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh tried to rape her when the two were in high school. Kavanaugh responded with anger and belligerence, especially toward Democratic women on the committee.
Catil-Sakauye's decision to leave the party "reflects the diminished support for the GOP among women," notes CALmatters. The diminished support played a huge role in GOP losses up and down the ballot not only in California, but across the country in the 2018 midterms.
In California, Democrats won every statewide office and increased their super-majorities in both legislative chambers. In addition, Democrats ousted seven Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives, cutting in half the GOP congressional delegation.
Catil-Sakauye's rejection of the GOP goes beyond Kavanaugh and the party's disdain toward women. She recently criticized Trump for his attacks on federal judges and the entire justice system in the United States.
"I don't believe the attacks are going to stop," Catil-Sakauye said earlier this week. "I do not believe the undermining and marginalizing of the branch will ever stop."
From embracing alleged sexual predators to undermining the rule of law, Catil-Sakauye said she believes the Republican Party left her behind.
She's not wrong.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
