On July 27, 2022, she announced she would retire and not run for another 12 year term on the court in November and stepped down on January 1, 2023, leaving Governor Newsom to appoint her replacement.

[3] On September 28, 2022, the Public Policy Institute of California announced that Cantil-Sakauye would become its president and chief executive officer, effective January 1, 2023.

[4] On September 21, 2023, the Judicial Council of California voted unanimously to name the new Sacramento County courthouse after former Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.

[2] She served there until 2005, when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her as an Associate Justice of the California Third District Court of Appeal to succeed Daniel Kolkey.

On July 21, 2010, Schwarzenegger nominated Cantil-Sakauye, at the time a Republican, to succeed retiring Chief Justice Ronald M. George on the California Supreme Court.

She has served as President of the Anthony M. Kennedy American Inns of Court, an organization promoting civility, ethics, and professionalism in the practice of law.

These include bail reform and decriminalizing minor traffic offenses, improved funding for courts and the bar, and civil discourse education for students.

[26] In 2016, Cantil-Sakauye led the effort at bail reform and to reclassify minor traffic infractions as civil instead of criminal to promote fairness of the law.

[44][45] In 2012, Cantil-Sakauye launched an initiative, called "Power of Democracy,"[46] to support civil discourse education for students,[47][48] and to emphasize the importance of jury trials as a matter of civics.

[49] In March 2017, Cantil-Sakauye cautioned about the unintended consequences of arrests of undocumented immigrants by federal agents at California state courthouses.

[58] On September 28, 2022, the Public Policy Institute of California announced that Cantil-Sakauye would become its president and chief executive officer, effective January 1, 2023.

[4] She also serves as a Neutral Mediator and Arbitrator with ADR Services, Inc. [59] On September 19, 2023, it was announced that the Sacramento Superior Court's new downtown courthouse would be named after Cantil-Sakauye.