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Tag: Washington State Supreme Court

High court overturns supermajority for taxes

High court overturns supermajority for taxes

The Washington Supreme Court, in a bombshell decision handed down just days before Gov. Jay Inslee and lawmakers tackle a multibillion-dollar budget gap, invalidated a popular voter-approved requirement of a two-thirds supermajority for taxes raised in Olympia. The court, in a decisive 6-3 ruling, said the state Constitution clearly says a bill becomes a law by gaining a majority in each house. The justices noted that this is the first time the court directly answers the question of whether the…

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Capitol fire photo wins Archives poll

Capitol fire photo wins Archives poll

(Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives) The voters have spoken on the September version of the Archives treasures online poll. And they’ve selected the 1928 photo of the Capitol fire as the winner of this month’s poll on three of the items found in our State Archives. The old photo received 46 percent of the vote, topping a letter from the 19th century Pig War (30 percent) and the State Supreme Court files (24 percent). Later this month we’ll unveil…

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Archives treasure #3: State Supreme Court files, 1854-1998

Archives treasure #3: State Supreme Court files, 1854-1998

(The State Supreme Court in 1968.  Photo courtesy of the State Archives’ Susan Parish Collection.) As the repository for Washington’s governmental records and documents, the State Archives has files going waaay back. In the case of the Washington Supreme Court, all the way back to 1854, when we were just a fledgling territory after splitting from Oregon Territory. The State Archives has more than 4,100 cubic feet of records that document the opinions and decisions of every case decided by…

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Governor appoints King County jurist Gonzalez to high court

Governor appoints King County jurist Gonzalez to high court

Temple of Justice, home of the State Supreme Court Gov. Chris Gregoire has chosen a successor to retiring Justice Gerry Alexander: veteran King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez. Gonzalez, who came from an immigrant family with Mexican and Eastern European roots and was first named to the King County bench by Gov. Gary Locke, becomes the high court’s lone minority justice.  Gregoire, who praised his intellect and broad legal skills, also noted his gift for learning foreign languages and…

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Come party like it’s 1910!

Come party like it’s 1910!

Mark your calendars for November 7 and 8 for two events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the vote to amend the Washington Constitution for women’s right to vote in the state as part of a Day of Jubilation.  The American Association of University Women is sponsoring a Women’s Suffrage Pink Tea at the State Capital Museum in Olympia  on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Visit this website for more details! The Office of the Secretary of State, the WSHS/Women’s…

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Countdown to the November 8th Day of Jubilation – Part 10

Countdown to the November 8th Day of Jubilation – Part 10

1887 and 1888 proved to be dark years for the women’s suffrage movement in Washington.  In the 1887 case of Harland v. Territory, the Territorial Supreme Court overturned the Women’s Suffrage Act of 1886 because it allowed women to serve on juries.  Justice George Turner (photo on left courtesy of Washington State Archives), who firmly believed that women were incapable of voting intelligently on public matters (tsk-tsk!), ruled that the title of the 1886 election law was defective and the…

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‘Legacy’ honors for Supreme Court heroes

‘Legacy’ honors for Supreme Court heroes

The full State Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, crossed the street from the Temple of Justice to the Capitol today to take part in Legacy Project honors for two of their esteemed former colleagues.  The occasion in Secretary of State Sam Reed’s ornate office was the rollout of new oral histories and biographies of Carolyn Dimmick, Washington’s first female justice who later was elevated by the president to the U.S. District Court bench, and Robert F. Utter, a widely respected former…

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Supremes decline to order simple majority vote on taxes

Supremes decline to order simple majority vote on taxes

A fresh opinion from the state high court, turning down Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown’s request to overturn the two-thirds supermajority requirement for tax hikes in the Legislature. In a unanimous 9-0 ruling, the high court side-stepped the request to rule on the constitutionality of the supermajority requirement approved by voters as Initiative 601 back in 1993 and reiterated in Tim Eyman’s I-960 in 2007. The court, using a separation-of-power argument, called it a political-legislative question that belonged in the…

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