Chief justice seeks vaccine priority for courts

California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye addressed questions on Wednesday about where she stands in terms of when judges and court staff should receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Reached on Wednesday, she clarified that she wants judges and court staff to be among the second tier of people receiving the vaccine.

Speaking to reporters in early December, she said judges should not "stand on title" in order to receive the vaccine early.

But days later she sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom arguing that "court employees and judicial officers be included as a priority in the plan, given the early limited supply of vaccines."

That letter was reported earlier this week, leading some to wonder if Cantil-Sakauye had changed her mind.

"It's not different," Cantil-Sakauye told The Daily Journal on Wednesday. "It's consistent with what I intended to say that we, judges, that by virtue of title alone we should not be first. There are more natural and needy groups. But once the first ... are attended to we should turn to essential workers."

She also noted she made the request not just for judges but the far more numerous staff who work in the courts. Cantil-Sakauye also said that at the time she made the comments, she was still formulating the letter and how she could make the request "without sounding presumptuous or entitled."

"What's clear is that at least in California, our courts and our staff have been on the front line from day one," she said. "Quietly, but diligently and with industry, our courts have continued to work."

"I make this request in light of the California court system's close proximity to our residents/users/partners, and the significant degree of foot traffic cycling through our courthouses," she wrote in the Dec. 11 letter. "We fully understand that there are others who should have first priority, but employees and members of the judiciary should not be far behind as they are designated as 'essential workers' by the administration."

The letter also noted, "For planning purposes, California's court system employs approximately 2,400 judicial officers and 21,000 employees." This is a relatively small group numerically, given that the Newsom administration reported on Tuesday that 454,000 Californians have already received doses of the vaccine.

But these workers are spread around every county in the state. Distributing the COVID-19 vaccine has also proven to be a technical challenge, given that people must receive two doses about three weeks apart. Vaccination sites have also"> needed to engage in time-consuming safety protocols that aren't in place during the annual fall rush to get out the flu vaccine.

About the same time, she submitted written testimony to the state's Community Vaccine Advisory Committee making similar arguments.

A panel with the federal Centers for Disease Control has been debating which groups belong in each tier to receive vaccines. The first group of people in the 1A tier includes about 24 million people, mainly front-line health care workers, nursing home staff, people 75 and older and other older adults with underlying health conditions.

While there has been widespread agreement about this first group, many professional organizations and others have been arguing to get their members in the larger 1B group. These include law enforcement, other first responders, and many types of essential workers, including grocery and agricultural workers.

Judges around the nation have been pushing to get their staff into this second group. For instance, chief judges in federal courts in several states have sent similar letters to governors. Chief justices in Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio have also lobbied their governors to allow early access to the vaccine for judges and court staff.