A nine-member Manhattan jury deliberated just three hours before attaching a price tag to defamatory remarks Trump made about a woman who accused him of sexual assault in the dressing room of a pricey New York department store.
Category: Litigation
Posted inLegislative Advocacy
U.S. Supreme Court rejects Quinn legal challenge to Washington’s capital gains tax on the wealthy, dashing right wing hopes
The decision keeps hundreds of millions of dollars flowing each year to education, childcare, and early learning in the Evergreen State.
Posted inPolicy Topics
Washington State Supreme Court rebuffs Wahkiakum School District’s school construction funding constitutional challenge
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.
Posted inPolicy Topics
Most of Washington’s counties are suing the state for refusing to provide necessary behavioral health treatment under state law
“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.
Posted inLitigation
Tim Eyman is searching for a treasurer to help him belatedly comply with court rulings
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.
Posted inLegislative Advocacy
Support for increasing the size of the U.S. Supreme Court inches upward in Washington
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.
Posted inLitigation
Washington State Supreme Court unanimously upholds state Voting Rights Act
The decision is an important legal victory for voting justice and ensures that the WVRA will remain in force.
Posted inLitigation
U.S. Supreme Court refuses to weaken Voting Rights Act to sanction Alabama gerrymander
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.
Posted inLitigation
With most of his estate now liquidated, Tim Eyman’s bankruptcy is finally winding down
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.
Posted inLitigation
A roundup of reaction to the Supreme Court’s Quinn ruling upholding WA’s capital gains tax
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.
Posted inLitigation
VICTORY! Washington State Supreme Court upholds new capital gains tax on the wealthy
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.
Posted inLitigation
Whichever way the Supreme Court decides the Quinn case, it will be making public policy
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.
Posted inLitigation
Republicans fail in their attempt to intervene in signature verification legal challenge
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.
Posted inLitigation
Impressions from today’s oral arguments in right wing’s capital gains tax legal challenge
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.