Judge Gonzalez and Governor Gregoire Credit: Washington State Governor's Office
Judge Gonzalez and Governor Gregoire
  • Washington State Governor’s Office
  • Judge Gonzalez and Governor Gregoire

At the Temple of Justice in Olympia a short time ago, Governor Chris Gregoire appointed King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez to the Washington State Supreme Court.

He will replace the retiring Justice Gerry Alexander, who at 75 is being forced out by the court’s age limits.

Gregoire praised Gonzalez’s worldliness and smarts (he is fluent in Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish), and promised he will be “a great colleague to his eight fellow justices.” He brings to the position experience as a domestic violence prosecutor (for the City of Seattle), a federal prosecutor (he worked on the Ahmed Ressam prosecution in 2001), and a superior court judge (he’s been with King County Superior Court since 2002).

Accepting the appointment, Gonzalez spoke of a humble beginning working as a janitor during high school in California, and later cleaning public restrooms in the parks in his city. “I think the restrooms were a very good reason for me to want to go to college,” he told the crowd.

He thanked his family and his mother for their support, saying his mom often claims he learned justice at her knee. “I learned it there, and maybe at some other joint,” Gonzalez quipped.

He will be the first Latino ever to serve on the high court, and he spoke of wanting to help renew Washingtonians’ faith that “no matter who you are when you appear before a court the outcome will be just and one you can believe in.” He also pronounced today a personal dream come true. “I would pinch myself,” Gonzalez said, “but if it’s a dream I don’t want to wake.”

Gonzalez’s appointment will take effect after Justice Alexander officially retires on Dec. 31. Then, in the fall of 2012, Gonzalez will have to stand for election.

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

15 replies on “King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez Is Washington’s Newest Supreme Court Justice”

  2. OK – any thing on the record about his position on civil rights?

    Specifically, marriage equality? If so, and it’s a positive one – shouldn’t the Equal Marriage folk of Washington State be considering filing another suit against the state DOMA? Especially because this means we’ve flipped one and perhaps two justices since the last go round?

    I know everyone’s afraid that McKenna’s gonna be elected and we’re going to lose our window for a legislative push for same-sex marriage in Washington State, but a judicial decision that the State DOMA is unconstitutional would obviate the cost and nastiness of the referendum that’s sure to follow, provided we can convince a few Repub state senators to vote our way (which is far from certain).

    Anyone?

    Am I nuts?

  3. @2–he’s good on race-based civil rights issues, but I have no idea how he feels about marriage equality.

    He is handsome and he’s a good judge. It will be good to have a trial judge on the bench. It’s amazing how little trial judge experience is currently represented on our supreme court.

  5. As a non-Washingtonian, can I just say that “Temple of Justice” is the awesomest name for a Supreme Court building I’ve ever heard. Although it does kinda make it sound like your Justices should be running around in colorful, skin-tight lycra outfits with capes and super powers and such.

  6. People will be impressed when they hear him speak. The current batch of justices already know him well and he will have immediate respect. One downside: Always tough to lose a good trial judge and I’m a bit concerned that he will find the new position to be disconnected from “real life law” and boring.

  9. I’m glad for Judge Gonzalez and with little knowledge of his position on anything, I’m excited for him to take his new position. However, why are judges forced out at age 75? (rhetorical question, I know it’s the law pertaining to our state’s supreme court.) Why haven’t I heard anyone complain of age discrimination in the courts?

  10. It’s funny how pointing out that Jean Godden is 80-years-old makes you “ageist” and a bigot to some, but our own state Constitution sets a judicial age limit at 75.

  11. Congrats to Conzalez and all, but the age limit is sort of strange, and made even weirder in that judges just get kicked out on their 75th birthday. Why even allow someone to run for election if they won’t be able to serve the full term?

  12. Sigh… It’s not “the Supreme Court’s age limit”, it’s the constitution of the state of Washington — that’s where it resides!

    Another cry for an editor, somewhere in this slog mashup. Please

  13. @10, here’s an interesting article on Washington age limits for judges in the context of how it varies by state, from as low as 70 to as high as 90. Not all states have an age limit, and nor does, of course, the highest court in the land. Our state’s limits were enacted by voter approval upon referral by the legislature in 1952.

    Howard Eglit, a law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, said the age limit laws were enacted in many states “based in good measure on the assumption that increasing age carries with it declining intellectual ability.”

    “It’s an inflexible rule which is harsh in one respect because it weeds out both the competent and the incompetent, but on the other hand is merciful, because it doesn’t require people to be told ‘you just are not competent anymore to do the job,'” said Eglit, who has written extensively about age discrimination in the workplace, including within the legal system.

    http://www.legalnews.com/detroit/559067

  14. because if it’s not automatic there’s the distasteful and humiliating prospect of telling judge’s they’re too senile to serve, fighting over that, but in reality, avoiding that fight and letting them serve although senile.

  15. I was a classmate and friend of Steve’s in law school, and he’s a great guy, very fair-minded and good on things like anti-discrim, equal opportunity, and the environment. You really couldn’t do much better.

    Andrew Mastin
    UC Berkeley Law ’91

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