Emily Heffter has the story:

The Seattle Municipal Court has hired an attorney from Perkins Coie to review the City Council's decision Monday to eliminate one Municipal Court judge.

In a six-page letter [.pdf] to Mayor Mike McGinn, the attorney, Kevin Hamilton, urges McGinn to veto the law.

"While I can certainly understand the urgent budget issues facing the Council that motivated this proposed Ordinance, the Ordinance appears to violate state law, threatens to imperil the independence of the Municipal Court, and would open the door to future significant manipulation and retaliation against the Court," Hamilton wrote in the Monday letter.

Every department, from police to parks to the prosecutor's office, is going to be gouged in next year's budget. So should the court. And, you know, it would be one thing if the Municipal Court was so slammed to the wheel that it couldn't spare a judge. But instead, the court is notoriously inefficient—judges are rumored to regularly refuse to help cover each other's overflowing dockets—and each judge costs around $1 million to keep in place. Everyone is taking budget cuts, Muni Court. Do you really need to be a baby about it, spending more taxpayer money on an attorney no less?