Washington Courts

Supreme Court elections are coming up this fall in Colorado, just as they are in Washington.  In Washington, three Supreme Court positions are up for election.  The positions are for six-year terms.

What do we know about judges running for office.  What do we know about judges who have been in office and are running again?  Not much really.  Yet we trust that election of judges is the proper way to go about filling these important positions.

In Colorado some seek better understanding of judicial candidates.  Go to the Denver Post and this “guest opinion”  Evaluating the performance of justices, by William Benta.  Mr. Benta is a former commissioner of two Colorado Judicial Performance Commissions.

Judge Richard Hicks has decided to dismiss the case and deny plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment.  See Jim Camden’s article in The Spokesman - Review. Appeals Court System Challenged.

As soon as the order on Judge Hicks’ decision is entered, Plaintiff will file a Notice of Appeal and a Petiton for Direct Review to the state Supreme Court.  The goal wiil be to get the case completely briefed to the Supreme Court as quickly as possibe.

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has long held that judges should be appointed not elected.  She was in Seattle the other day to pursue her goals in that regard.  Seattle Times.

In Washington we have the notion that we elect judges. We do, and yet we do not. Most judicial positions are filled by gubernatorial appointment to vacate judicial positions. Rarely does a judge at any level serve out his or her full term. Usually, a retiring judge retires before his or her term is up and the governor appoints someone to fill the position. The judge then runs for election as an incumbent.

Also, we think we elect the judges who act as judges of the three judge panels by which the Court of Appeals does its work. We do not. We elect judges to the divisions of the Court[s] but the judges who decide the cases are not elected, they are appointed. And, the panels are not apportioned as to the judges appointed and the electorate of the Division. See my article and attachments and my other efforts with regard to the Washington Court of Appeals. 

So much for the election of judges to the “real supreme court of the State of Washington” for most cases — the Washington Court[s] of Appeal. For the most part the only cases which get to the Supreme Court are those which the Supreme Court has decided to review - about 1 out of 10 cases.