Tani Cantil-Sakauye Still Unaccountable, Unpunished for Alleged Misuse of State Funds, Financial Fraud Against Taxpayers

Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court and Chairperson of the California Judicial Council.

Watch the ABC news report video:

Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye Caught Using Highway Patrol as Personal Limo and Security Service from Sacramento Superior Court News on Vimeo.

Santa Clara County Family Court Controversy Continues Court History of Scandal: Judge-Attorney Cronyism Still To Blame, Say Whistleblowers

FBI probes $17 million missing from Santa Clara County trusts:

Court whistleblowers allege that Presiding Judge Patricia Lucas and 6th District 
Court of Appeal Justice Conrad Rushing ultimately are responsible for systemic
 family court judge misconduct that resembles prior scandals in the same court. 

County judges must impose tighter rules for managing vulnerable residents' estates:

Santa Clara judge reconsiders his early ruling on a trustee excessive fee case: 

State Auditor Files Response to Vexatious Litigation by Commission on Judicial Performance Director Victoria Henley

Commission on Judicial Performance
Director and Chief Counsel Victoria Henley

From the Daily Journal: 

Attorneys for the California State Auditor submitted a response Monday to a writ filed last month by the Commission on Judicial Performance challenging the auditor's jurisdiction.

The CJP sued Auditor Elaine M. Howle in San Francisco Superior Court in October, seeking to limit the scope of an audit ordered by the Legislature in August. The CJP is the state agency that investigates and disciplines judges charged with misconduct...

Myron Moskovitz, who represents Howle, said the CJP's arguments seek to sidestop decades of well-established law around the auditor's office and its functions.

"After they see the answer, if they still want to go to trial we will," said Moskovitz, legal director of the Moskovitz Appellate Team in Piedmont. "I don't know why they would want to. I don't think they have much of a case...

"This is the first time anyone has ever complained about their right to audit a public agency that gets public money and is supposed to serve the public," explained Moskovitz. "I don't know what they are afraid of."  

CJP Director/Chief Counsel Victoria Henley is paid $194,000 per year by California taxpayers. 

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Free Speech Experts Discredit Controversial Attorney Keri Evilsizor in High Conflict Divorce Case

From the East Bay Times: 

MARTINEZ — In a decision First Amendment experts have dubbed “outrageous,” a Contra Costa Superior Court judge jailed a San Ramon man for writing about his divorce on the internet — even though his writings were based on material publicly available in court files.

The judge, Bruce C. Mills, insisted in his decision that “matters that are put into court pleadings and brought up in oral argument before the court do not become public thereby” — a position that lawyers say fundamentally misunderstands the nature of court records.

Joseph Sweeney, a judicial reform advocate, served 13 days in County Jail in August after Mills’ ruling, which found that Sweeney’s web postings had violated another judge’s restraining order not to disclose the contents of his ex-wife’s cellphone or computer. The postings described Sweeney’s realizations about her medical history and contact with others that led to the collapse of the marriage.

Read the full article at the East Bay Times.

Judge Aaron Persky Coworkers Embroiled in New Santa Clara County Superior Court Scandal

The State Bar of California has disciplined attorney Nat Hales in
connection with a family court dispute. 

BREAKING NEWS: Four Santa Clara County judges have been implicated in a new scandal involving providing preferential treatment to a local attorney, and collusion to cover up misconduct by the same lawyer. 

The judges, James Towery, Mary Ann Grilli, Mark Pierce and Vincent Chiarello, were all notified of alleged misconduct by attorney and court appointed "referee" Nat Edward Hales during the course of proceedings in a high conflict family court case. 

Institutionalized Socioeconomic Bias Revealed in Traffic Courts Scandal: Judges Still Unaccountable for Systemic Code of Judicial Ethics Violations

Statewide traffic courts scandal news reports expose institutionalized socioeconomic bias against the poor by California courts and judges. Over two years later, no disciplinary action taken against a single judge by the California Commission on Judicial Performance.  

Damning Report Cataloging Career Spanning Misconduct by Judge Bruce C. Mills Leaked by Whistleblower Group

Judge Bruce C. Mills

A report cataloging serial acts of misconduct spanning more than 10 years by Judge Bruce C. Mills has been leaked to the public by a court watchdog and whistleblower group.

The 51-page dossier collected both public and "secret" discipline prosecutions against the judge by the Commission on Judicial Performance, the state agency responsible for judge oversight and accountability. The report is embedded at the end of this post.

The report reveals that in addition to two well known public disciplinary actions taken against the veteran Contra Costa County jurist, Mills was also found guilty in three additional incidents where the type of discipline and name of the offender were "private" and not revealed to the public.

The group identified Mills as the offending judge in the secret proceedings by reverse engineering details from the public disciplinary actions and cross referencing the information with old CJP annual reports. The acts of public and private misconduct occurred in 2001, 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2013.

Judge Bruce Clayton Mills was appointed to the bench by Governor Pete Wilson in July, 1995. Mills worked as a Contra Costa County prosecutor from 1985-95, and was in private practice from 1984-87. The judge is a 1984 graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.

Appellate Justice Cole Blease Cover Up: Dismisses Appeal Documenting Serial Misconduct by Trial Court Judge

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Matthew J. Gary has, again, escaped accountability for serial misconduct against self-represented litigants who can't afford to hire an attorney. Last week, 3rd District Court of Appeal Justice Coleman Blease dismissed an appeal documenting criminal conduct by Gary. Gary is one of the most incompetent and corrupt judges in California.

Justice Cole Blease has a storied history of helping conceal and cover up misconduct
by trial court judges and attorneys. Blease has repeatedly violated California
Code of Judicial Ethics canons 3D(1) and (2), which require all judges to
report attorney and judge misconduct.

The order issued by Blease is embedded at the bottom of this post. Additional documents from the case are curated at the Justice Cole Blease Controversy Scribd collection.

Former Sacramento Family Court Judge Tani Cantil-Sakauye Blamed for Statewide Court Corruption Problems

California court watchdog groups charge that the leadership of the state Judicial Council bears primary responsibility for a string of court scandals compiled in this video from the California Courts News YouTube Channel. An ABC News 10 investigation into misuse of the California Highway Patrol by the chief justice as a taxi and shopping service is included. 

Indifference and incompetence by Judicial Council Chair Tani Cantil-Sakauye and senior management at the agency has resulted in an epidemic of court corruption in California, including a Los Angeles County court clerk accused of stealing $6,000 from people filing name changes, a case fixing scheme uncovered by the FBI in Orange County, and a massive, statewide traffic courts scandal. 

Commission on Judicial Performance Director Victoria B. Henley Makes Bank at CJP Protecting Judges

Commission on Judicial Performance Director Victoria Henley is paid more than the Governor of California for running a protection racket for judges. 

Special Sunday Satire by RoadDog

Keeping a lid on the epidemic of judicial corruption in California don't come cheap. The Boss of Bosses of the California Commission on Judicial Performance - the state agency that used to be responsible for keeping the state's judges in line - banked $194,000 in pay last year. Can you say "protection racket?" That's some OG gangsta shit. Who wants Victoria Henley's job? Raise your hand.   

California Commission on Judicial Performance Assessed FAILing Grade for Judicial Accountability in National Government Corruption Study

The California Commission on Judicial Performance and Director Victoria B. Henley are responsible for judicial oversight and accountability in the state.

Read the full article at the San Jose Mercury News. 

Commission on Judicial Performance Director Victoria B. Henley Paid $194,000 per Year by Taxpayers

Victoria Henley, Director of the Commission on Judicial Performance is paid substantially more than the governor of California.