State chief justice has COVID

California’s chief justice, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, has tested positive for the coronavirus and has mild COVID symptoms, court officials say.

Cantil-Sakauye is fully vaccinated and has received two booster shots, Jorge Navarrette, clerk of the state Supreme Court, said Monday in a statement reporting her illness.

She did not participate Tuesday in the first day of the court’s monthly calendar of oral arguments. But lawyers in the cases have agreed to let her take part in deliberations and in voting on the cases, along with her six colleagues, after reviewing videos of the hearings, said Peter Allen, a spokesperson for the state Judicial Council. He said Cantil-Sakauye was expected to take part remotely in Wednesday’s second and final day of oral arguments.

Cantil-Sakauye, now 62, was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010 to succeed the retiring Chief Justice Ronald George, becoming the court’s second female chief justice, after Rose Bird. She had previously worked as a Sacramento County prosecutor, an aide to Gov. George Deukmejian and a trial judge and appeals court justice. State voters approved her for a 12-year term in November 2010, and she is scheduled to be on the ballot for another term this November.

She is a longtime critic of the cash bail system, which she considers unfair to low-income defendants and ineffective at promoting public safety. CantilSakauye led the Judicial Council in April 2020 in eliminating bail for misdemeanors and most nonviolent felonies during the pandemic, and later voted with her court to require trial judges to consider a defendant’s financial resources when setting bail.