The California Supreme Court Chief Justice is an embarrassment. She might be incompetent. She’s certainly a partisan unaware of her role in this Federal Republic. Her disgraceful, political effort to stop ICE agents in pursuit of illegal immigrants in California merits examination and criticism. Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wants to put our ICE on Ice and stop them from doing their job. In short, she wants to turn California State Courthouses into Sanctuary Courthouses. We must stop her.
Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye (pronounced, “Canteal” “Saka-ooh-ee”) wrote both the DHS and AG Sessions demanding that ICE agents stop “stalking” illegal aliens in California courts. This open borders’ apologist masquerading as the chief legal officer of California also takes offense to arresting people who she says essentially haven’t done anything wrong and present no danger to the community.
It sure is nice of her express her political opinion and to advocate for not enforcing our laws. That’s not the role of a chief jurist.
The problem with the hard left is that it has grown accustomed to the idea that being here illegally does not warrant authorities arresting or deporting people. In fairness to the many who hold that warped view, this country stopped enforcing its laws so long ago that people think letting illegal aliens squat in this country if they do nothing else wrong is the state of the law. It’s is not.
In fact, being here illegally has always been against the law. It is just that every administration has prioritized finding criminal illegal aliens first. In so doing, ICE and its INS predecessor often used “agency discretion” that allowed it to only pursue those priority cases. The hard truth is that’s how politicians in both parties wanted it.
Our ICE agents have had their hands tied for decades. They have been demoralized. They know where the illegal aliens are, and politicians literally would not permit agents to use the time and resources to bring those aliens in unless the individuals were tied to additional criminal activity. Moreover, as the invasion continued apace, politicians defined “criminal” activity more narrowly. Soon, we began only pursuing illegal aliens who committed “serious” crimes. In short, this country created an expectation that if an illegal alien came here and didn’t commit any serious crime, we would leave him or her alone. That’s not the law.
The Chief Justice has an additional infirmity that drives her thinking. Her legal resume was razor thin before getting on the bench. In fact, most of her time in “law” she spent in politics. She’s a politico. Sure, she had several cups of coffee as a junior prosecutor right out of law school. And, to be clear, that’s front-line legal work. But the vast majority of her pre-bench legal resume drips of political appointments. That doesn’t make her a bad person, it just exposes why her thinking drifts toward politics rather than the law. She has no serious appreciation for the legal ethics of foisting her political opinion into a matter of enforcement that in no way concerns her.
In her letter to the AG, she exposes her political bias and lack of judicial ethics born of a life outside of practicing real law. The politicization of the law is the worst thing that has happened to this country, and she is exhibit A.
The good news from this twisted episode is we now have confirmation that our law enforcement officers in ICE are going hard after people here illegally. And, they are still prioritizing what Mr. Trump called, “bad hombres.” That’s probably why they were at the Courthouse! Call me crazy, but that’s not stalking; that’s smart investigating.
For those opposed to illegal immigration, we have always said that if only the federal government would only enforce the laws we have on the books, we could resolve this issue. Now that we are doing it, the #altleft and open borders crowd is outraged. Mind you, they are not outraged at illegal immigration; they are outraged that America is enforcing its laws.
The Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court wants to create sanctuary courthouses. That’s illegal. She wants to make it harder for law enforcement to its job. Guess what Madam Chief Justice; ICE is finally doing the job America wouldn’t do.
Author: Richard Kelsey
Richard Kelsey is the Editor-in-Chief of Committed Conservative.
He is a trial Attorney and author of a #11 best-selling book on Amazon written on higher education, “Of Serfs and Lords: Why College Tuition is Creating a Debtor Class”
Rich is also the author of the new Murder-Mystery series, “The ABC’s of Murder,” book one is titled, “Adultery.”
Rich is a former Assistant Law School Dean and Law Professor. At Mason Law Kelsey conceived of, planned, and brought to fruition Mason’s Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property, known as CPIP, drawing on his expertise as a former CEO of a technology company specializing in combating cyber-fraud.
In 2014 he was elected by the graduating class as the faculty speaker at their graduation.
He is a regular commentator on legal and political issues in print, radio and on TV. Rich has appeared on hundreds of stations as a legal expert or political commentator. He provided the legal analysis for all stages of the Bob McDonnell trial and appeal for numerous outlets including NPR and WMAL.
Rich also writes on occasion for the American Spectator and CNSNews.com.
In his free time, Rich is part of the baseball mafia of Northern Virginia, serving on numerous boards and as a little league and travel baseball coach.
His Twitter handle is @richkelsey.
