Washington State Supreme Court justices choose Steven González as their new Chief

Wash­ing­ton State’s nine State Supreme Court jus­tices will have a new leader as of this Jan­u­ary: Steven González. The bril­liant jurist, who authored last mon­th’s deci­sion emphat­i­cal­ly strik­ing down Tim Eyman’s bla­tant­ly uncon­sti­tu­tion­al Ini­tia­tive 976, has been cho­sen by his col­leagues to serve in the role, which is for a fixed term, unlike the posi­tion of Chief Jus­tice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

González will take over from Jus­tice Debra Stephens, who served out the remain­der of Jus­tice Mary Fairhurst’s term as Chief Jus­tice. (The jus­tices select a Chief Jus­tice from amongst them­selves in an inter­nal election.)

“I am hon­ored to be elect­ed by my col­leagues and I look for­ward to work­ing with them and oth­ers on the impor­tant ini­tia­tives and deci­sions of this Court that touch the lives of every­one in Wash­ing­ton,” said Jus­tice González in a state­ment.

“González has been a mem­ber of the Supreme Court since Jan­u­ary 2012, and he was a King Coun­ty Supe­ri­or Court judge for ten years before join­ing the Supreme Court,” the Supreme Court’s press office notes.

“Before becom­ing a judge, Jus­tice González was an Assis­tant Unit­ed States Attor­ney for the West­ern Dis­trict of Wash­ing­ton, an Assis­tant City Attor­ney for the City of Seat­tle, and a busi­ness law attor­ney in pri­vate practice.”

Vot­ers have elect­ed him to two full terms on the Supreme Court since he was appoint­ed by Gov­er­nor Chris Gre­goire in 2011 to fill the vacan­cy left by the retire­ment of Ger­ry Alex­nad­er. Here’s a sto­ry about his appoint­ment.

“His expe­ri­ence with pro­found­ly impor­tant issues, close study of the law and per­spec­tive as a tri­al court judge will make Judge González an excel­lent Supreme Court Jus­tice,” Gre­goire said upon hav­ing cho­sen González.

That appoint­ment ranks as one of Gre­goire’s best deci­sions as governor.

Jus­tice González is one of the finest legal minds that I know. His ser­vice on the Supreme Court has been absolute­ly exem­plary. He is an out­stand­ing jus­tice, of the very high­est cal­iber, and our team is thrilled to see him in this lead­er­ship role on the Court. It is tru­ly a fit­ting recog­ni­tion of his skills and abilities.

Appro­pri­ate­ly, his col­leagues seem just as delight­ed as we are.

Wrote Jus­tice Mary Yu: “We have elect­ed a new Chief Jus­tice of the Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court and his name is Jus­tice Steve González! He will be sworn in as Chief in Jan­u­ary. I am so excited!”

“I’m proud to serve on this court with Jus­tice González as our next Chief Jus­tice,” wrote new­ly retained Jus­tice Raquel Mon­toya-Lewis.

Jus­tice González has been part of every major­i­ty deci­sion reached against an Eyman ini­tia­tive since join­ing the Supreme Court, and authored an excel­lent con­cur­ring opin­ion in 2016 against Tim Eyman’s I‑1366.

He sup­port­ed retired Jus­tice Mary Fairhurst’s lead opin­ion strik­ing down the death penal­ty in 2018, and just this week was part of a major­i­ty that struck down an old law bar­ring farm work­ers from receiv­ing over­time pay.

We know Steve González will be a great leader, spokesper­son, and advo­cate for our judi­cia­ry in dif­fi­cult times. Our best wish­es to him as he begins his new role.