Should Washington State Municipal Court Judges be elected or appointed by the municipal government?

In her January 12, 2011 State of the Judiciary Address, Washington State Chief Justice Barbara Madsen elaborated on her concerns regarding the practice in the state of municipalities appointing municipal court judges, suggesting that perhaps election would be preferable, indeed that elections would help protect municipal court judges from being pressured to rule in favor of the municipality or to find people guilty in order to balance local budgets.

Shortly thereafter, SB 5630 was introduced, to make all municipal court judges elected by their respective localities. A hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was held on February 18. This is video of the hearing. A summary of the testimony can be found at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-12/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/Senate/5...

Speakers (in order of appearance):

Panel 1: Juliana Roe, Senate Judiciary committee staff; Chief Justice Barbara Madsen, Washington State Supreme Court

Panel 2: Doug Haake, former municipal court judge for City of Bonney Lake; Chief Judge Stephen Brown, District and Municipal Court Judges Association

Panel 3: Candice Bock, Association of Washington Cities; Jim Haggerton, City of Tukwila; Diane Suprey, City of Sumner

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Barbara Madsen
• Doug Haake
• Stephen Brown
• Candice Bock
• Jim Haggerton
• Diane Suprey
• Senate
• Judiciary
• Judicial
• Selection
• Judicial Selection
• Judicial Election