California’s Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye leaves the GOP, registers as no-party-preference voter

FILE - In this March 23, 2015, file photo, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye delivers her State of the Judiciary address before a joint session of the Legislature at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. California Supreme Court justices on Wednesday, dec. 5, 2018, peppered an attorney representing state workers with tough questions in a closely watched lawsuit over a change to public employee pensions that has the potential to upend California's long-held rule that retirement benefits can never be taken away once promised. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) less FILE - In this March 23, 2015, file photo, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye delivers her State of the Judiciary address before a joint session of the Legislature at the Capitol in ... more Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press Image 1 of / 43 Caption Close California’s Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye leaves the GOP, registers as no-party-preference voter 1 / 43 Back to Gallery

Just days after publicly criticizing President Trump’s remarks as being harmful to the “rule of law,” California’s Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye told a news organization that she has left the Republican Party, registering instead as a no-party-preference voter.

In an interview with CALmatters on Thursday, Cantil-Sakauye said she decided to change her registration to no-party-preference after watching the confirmation hearings unfold for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, where he was grilled for hours on the alleged sexual assault of Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey Ford when the pair were teenagers in 1982.

Kavanaugh denied the allegations levied against him and he was subsequently confirmed as a Supreme Court justice.

During an annual meeting with reporters in San Francisco earlier this week, Cantil-Sakauye said judges must promote civics education and invite residents into courtrooms in order to defend the courts from verbal attacks from the Trump Administration.

Cantil-Sakauye, who was appointed as the state’s top judge in 2011 by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, told reporters this week that she was “not surprised” when Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts also publicly criticized Trump after the president referred to a U.S. District Judge in San Francisco as an “Obama judge.”

She joins a number of other Republican officials to leave the party since Trump’s election.

She is the 28th Chief Justice of California and the first Filipina-American to serve as the state’s chief justice, according to the Judicial Branch of California.

Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavor