Still on the court, bitchez!
  • photo courtesy of the washington state supreme court
  • Still on the court, bitchez!
The final term of State Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Sanders may have officially expired on January 10, but he'll still be considering cases and issuing rulings for at least the next two months.

What's going on?

It's actually quite typical for defeated justices to stay with the court, on a temporary (or pro tem) basis, so that they can finish out cases that began during their term. So: Nothing untoward here. Nevertheless, on the list of cases that Justice Sanders will still have his hands in—while still collecting a salary and benefits—are a few very interesting ones:

City of Seattle vs. Robert M. McKenna, which is about whether Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna overstepped his authority by challenging President Obama's health care reform law; Freeman vs. Gregoire, which is about whether Bellevue developer Kemper Freeman can halt plans to put light rail across the I-90 floating bridge; Goldmark vs. McKenna, which is about whether the (Republican) attorney general can decline to follow the orders of the (Democratic) state lands commission in a particular legal case; and Seattle Times vs. Honorable Susan Serko et al, which involves a fight over public records related to Maurice Clemmons, but could be very interesting watch given Justice Sanders' stated opinions on how the Seattle Times treated him in the run-up to his electoral defeat.

For example:

WHY did I lose this year's election when in 1998 and 2004 I topped 63 percent?

The Seattle Times.