NPI's Cascadia Advocate

Offering commentary and analysis from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's uplifting perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Category Archives: Litigation

Washington State Supreme Court rebuffs Wahkiakum School District’s school construction funding constitutional challenge

Excerpt: The highest court in the Evergreen State has unanimously ruled against a rural Washington school district that brought a constitutional challenge over the state's longtime K-12 facilities funding regime, finding that the state's paramount duty does not extend to school capital construction costs.
Published at:12:30 PM on Friday, September 8th, 2023
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Education, Policy Topics
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Most of Washington’s counties are suing the state for refusing to provide necessary behavioral health treatment under state law

Excerpt: "In the face of DSHS's continuing contempt for both legislative and judicial authority, Washington's counties have joined in an unprecedented coalition to enforce DSHS's legal obligations," the counties declare in their legal action.
Published at:11:53 AM on Wednesday, August 23rd, 2023
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Healthcare, Policy Topics
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Tim Eyman is searching for a treasurer to help him belatedly comply with court rulings

Excerpt: The ex-initiative promoter has apparently decided to start making a belated effort to comply with a series of rulings issued by Thurston County Superior Court Judge James Dixon in the State of Washington's main campaign finance enforcement case against him.
Published at:9:30 AM on Friday, August 18th, 2023
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:Litigation
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Support for increasing the size of the U.S. Supreme Court inches upward in Washington

Excerpt: 52% of 773 likely 2024 general election voters surveyed by Public Policy Polling earlier this month said they supported increasing the size of the Court to make it a more diverse and representative body, while 40% were opposed and 8% were not sure.
Published at:10:37 AM on Friday, June 30th, 2023
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Civil Liberties, Legislative Advocacy, Policy Topics
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Washington State Supreme Court unanimously upholds state Voting Rights Act

Excerpt: The decision is an important legal victory for voting justice and ensures that the WVRA will remain in force.
Published at:2:23 PM on Friday, June 16th, 2023
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Elections
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U.S. Supreme Court refuses to weaken Voting Rights Act to sanction Alabama gerrymander

Excerpt: The decision, a big blow to the right wing, means that Alabama Republicans' gamble that the Court would accept its invitation to further weaken the Voting Rights Act has failed. While Justices Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Coney Barrett wanted to go along with Alabama, Roberts and Kavanaugh were not interested.
Published at:11:39 AM on Thursday, June 8th, 2023
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Elections
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With most of his estate now liquidated, Tim Eyman’s bankruptcy is finally winding down

Excerpt: Judge Marc Barreca's May 19th order granting trustee Virginia Burdette's motion to abandon the property of the estate ("other than the funds on deposit in the estate's bank account") indicates that the case has moved into its final stages.
Published at:12:23 PM on Saturday, May 27th, 2023
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Legislative Advocacy
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A roundup of reaction to the Supreme Court’s Quinn ruling upholding WA’s capital gains tax

Excerpt: Read what elected officials, advocacy organizations, and other think tanks are saying about the Washington State Supreme Court's decision upholding the capital gains tax on the wealthy.
Published at:11:57 AM on Friday, March 24th, 2023
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Breaking News
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VICTORY! Washington State Supreme Court upholds new capital gains tax on the wealthy

Excerpt: The Court voted 7-2 in favor of finding that Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5096 (the law that created the capital gains tax) is indeed an excise tax. The majority opinion, authored by Associate Justice Debra L. Stephens, also rejected the Quinn plaintiffs' other arguments, affirming the law's constitutionality.
Published at:10:37 AM on Friday, March 24th, 2023
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Breaking News
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Whichever way the Supreme Court decides the Quinn case, it will be making public policy

Excerpt: Read NPI alum Patrick Stickney's assessment of the oral argument in Quinn et al v. State of Washington et al, the right wing legal challenge to Washington State's new capital gains tax on the wealthy.
Published at:9:30 AM on Monday, February 20th, 2023
Written by:Patrick Stickney
Other Categories:Views & Reviews
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Republicans fail in their attempt to intervene in signature verification legal challenge

Excerpt: The Republicans’ philosophy on litigation is never to spend one dollar when two (or more) will do. Judge Shaffer may have saved the party some money, needed until recently (when he announced his candidacy) to pay Trump’s legal bills.
Published at:8:55 AM on Monday, February 6th, 2023
Written by:Joel Connelly
Other Categories:Elections
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Impressions from today’s oral arguments in right wing’s capital gains tax legal challenge

Excerpt: Here's what it was like to be in the courtroom for oral arguments in Quinn et al v. State of Washington et al, the right wing legal challenge to the constitutionality of our recently enacted capital gains tax on the wealthy.
Published at:2:30 PM on Thursday, January 26th, 2023
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Categories:Litigation
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National, state Republicans file against voters in signature verification legal challenge

Excerpt: State and national Republicans are filing briefs in a lawsuit that seeks to end the error-filled signature verification process on Washington’s mail-in ballots. The suit they are intervening in alleges that thousands of valid votes get rejected and that rejections hit a disproportionate number of younger, Black, Latino/Latina and disabled voters.
Published at:12:20 PM on Monday, January 23rd, 2023
Written by:Joel Connelly
Other Categories:Elections
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Washington State Supreme Court rules capital gains tax on wealthy can be collected for now

Excerpt: The ruling, requested by Attorney General Bob Ferguson, frees the Department of Revenue (DOR) to proceed with collecting the new capital gains tax, which is a crucial new funding source for education, preschool, and early learning. 
Published at:1:36 PM on Wednesday, November 30th, 2022
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Legislative Advocacy
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