Retir­ing Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court Jus­tice Char­lie Wig­gins has a successor.

Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee today appoint­ed Pierce Coun­ty Supe­ri­or Court Judge G. Helen Whiten­er to fill the vacan­cy left by Wig­gins’ depar­ture. Whiten­er is a dis­tin­guished jurist who has been hon­ored by the Wash­ing­ton State Bar Asso­ci­a­tion, the Wash­ing­ton Woman Lawyers, the Seat­tle Uni­ver­si­ty School of Law, the Taco­ma-Pierce Coun­ty Bar Asso­ci­a­tion, and the Wash­ing­ton Women Lawyers.

“Judge Whiten­er inspires lawyers and non-lawyers alike with her relent­less work to raise aware­ness for mat­ters of race, jus­tice and equi­ty,” Inslee said. “She is tire­less in her com­mit­ment to build­ing a jus­tice sys­tem that works for all, and as a Supreme Court jus­tice, she will have an even greater plat­form to pro­mote jus­tice for every­one in Wash­ing­ton state. I am very pleased to appoint her to this bench and I look for­ward to her many con­tri­bu­tions to our state for years to come.”

Pri­or to her appoint­ment to the Supe­ri­or Court bench, Judge Whiten­er served on the Wash­ing­ton State Board of Indus­tri­al Insur­ance Appeals and on the Taco­ma munic­i­pal court. She has expe­ri­ence as both a pros­e­cu­tor and a defense attor­ney, which will delight the legal com­mu­ni­ty and serve her well on the Supreme Court.

New Jus­tice Helen Whiten­er (Cour­tesy photo)

Incom­ing Jus­tice Whiten­er earned her J.D. from Seat­tle Uni­ver­si­ty School of Law in 1998. She also holds a bach­e­lor’s degree in busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion from Baruch Col­lege, City Uni­ver­si­ty of New York, earned in 1988.

“Judge Whiten­er is very active local­ly, nation­al­ly, and inter­na­tion­al­ly and speaks often on human rights, access to jus­tice, and the rights and respon­si­bil­i­ty of the judi­cia­ry in ensur­ing the rights of all that appear before the court to basic dig­ni­ty and respect in judi­cial pro­ceed­ings,” her web­site explains.

“She is co-chair of the Wash­ing­ton State Minor­i­ty and Jus­tice Com­mis­sion and serves on the Board of Direc­tors of the Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion of LGBT Judges (IALGBTJ). Judge Whiten­er is also a mem­ber of the Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Women Judges (IAWJ), the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Women Judges (NAWJ) and the Amer­i­can Judges Asso­ci­a­tion (AJA),” the biog­ra­phy goes to say.

And that’s not all! “In 2017 she was appoint­ed by the Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court to the Office of Civ­il Legal Aid Over­sight Com­mit­tee (OCLA). She is a for­mer chair and co-chair of the Wash­ing­ton State Supe­ri­or Court Judges’ Asso­ci­a­tion (SCJA) – Equi­ty and Fair­ness Com­mit­tee. Judge Whiten­er is also a mem­ber of the Wash­ing­ton Women Lawyers and is a judi­cial mem­ber of the Advi­so­ry Coun­cil for the QLaw Asso­ci­a­tion of Washington.”

It looks like Gov­er­nor Inslee has once again hit a home run and picked a superb new Supreme Court Jus­tice for Wash­ing­ton State. A few months ago, he tapped Judge Raquel Mon­toya-Lewis to serve as Jus­tice Mary Fairhurst’s suc­ces­sor. Now, Judge G. Helen Whiten­er will suc­ceed Jus­tice Char­lie Wiggins.

The Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court will now have sev­en female jus­tices, includ­ing a black woman, an Asian Amer­i­can woman and a Native Amer­i­can woman, which is incred­i­ble. I believe this is the most diverse State Supreme Court in the coun­try and in the his­to­ry of the Unit­ed States of America.

For at least the new few months, the Court’s ros­ter will be as follows:

• Chief Jus­tice Debra Stephens
• Asso­ciate Jus­tice Bar­bara Madsen
• Asso­ciate Jus­tice Susan Owens
• Asso­ciate Jus­tice Steven Gonzalez
• Asso­ciate Jus­tice Sheryl Gor­don McCloud
• Asso­ciate Jus­tice Mary Yu
• Asso­ciate Jus­tice Charles Johnson
• Asso­ciate Jus­tice Raquel Montoya-Lewis
• Asso­ciate Jus­tice G. Helen Whitener

Oth­er courts around the coun­try are dom­i­nat­ed by white men, includ­ing many of the Fed­er­al­ist Soci­ety per­sua­sion. Not the Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court.

This is a court that tru­ly reflects the state that it serves.

We extend our con­grat­u­la­tions to Jus­tice Whiten­er. We look for­ward to see­ing her join the Court and assume her new duties along­side our oth­er justices.

Great choice, Gov­er­nor Inslee!