Calling Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye “one of the most consequential California figures of the last 12 years,” Marcos Bretón of the Sacramento Bee’s editorial board writes in the Bee that “the California Supreme Court that Cantil-Sakauye leaves Friday is more unified in its decisions, and more supportive of women and people of color in the judiciary, than ever before.”

Dealing with “California’s most contentious issues,” Bretón says the Chief Justice “worked to build consensus and collegiality on a court that she saw as critical to protecting the public against political overreach — even when the overreach is in the name of the public through direct democracy.” The column quotes her as saying, “the California Supreme Court is the only restraint on the initiative process.”