Richard B. Sanders is a former justice of the

Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the ...

Early life and education

Richard Sanders attended

Highline High School Highline High School is a public high school in Burien, Washington, United States, located about 3.5 miles from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. Highline High School, the flagship high school of the Highline Public Schools district, opene ...

. In school, he played

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

in the band and was a member of the debate team. He graduated from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, where he studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and wrote for the '' Daily of the University of Washington'', then went on to earn his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree from the same university.

Career

After law school, Sanders became an active litigation attorney who, according to ''

Seattle Metropolitan ''Seattle Metropolitan'', or ''Seattle Met'', is a monthly city magazine covering Seattle, Washington. Its first issue was published in March 2006, and features reporting and feature articles on Seattle events, politics, people, dining and restaura ...

'' was "best known for representing builders and property owners battling land-use constraints. But he also represented many poor and minority clients in discrimination and injury suits." In 1976, he was one of the first lawyers to defy the American Bar Association's Code of Professional Responsibility that proscribed public advertising. He was elected in 1995 to a partial term to fill a vacancy on the Washington Supreme Court, defeating

Rosselle Pekelis Rosselle Pekelis (1938 – December 9, 2019) was an Italian-born American attorney and jurist who served as a Judge of the Washington Supreme Court. She previously served as a judge on the King County Superior Court from 1981 to 1986, the Court ...

despite a "not qualified" rating from the King County Bar Association. He was re-elected to two additional full six-year terms in 1998 and 2004. During his tenure on the court, Sanders wrote more dissenting opinions than any other justice in the court's history. He surprised the conservatives who had backed his first bid by adopting strong civil libertarian positions, casting the sole dissent against Washington's

three-strikes law In the United States, habitual offender laws (commonly referred to as three-strikes laws) have been implemented since at least 1952, and are part of the United States Justice Department's Anti-Violence Strategy. These laws require a person who i ...

and frequently siding with criminal defendants in appellate cases, including one case in which he was the sole justice to posit that a Black motorist wrongfully arrested for a traffic violation had a right to resist arrest. Sanders attracted national headlines when, during a 2008 banquet of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquartered ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, he shouted "Tyrant! You are a tyrant!" at

U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

Michael Mukasey Michael Bernard Mukasey (; born July 28, 1941) is an American attorney and former federal judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States from 2007 to 2009. Born in New York City in 1941, Mukasey attended Ramaz School, graduat ...

, after which Mukasey fainted. Two years later, he let his society membership lapse, declaring he felt closer to the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

than the Federalist Society. In 2010, Sanders ran for reelection and lost to Charlie Wiggins in one of the closer elections in Washington State. Sanders attracted controversy over a statement he made, and later retracted, that certain minority groups "have a crime problem", as well as his vote upholding a ban on gay marriage. In 2012 he ran and lost a bid to return to the Washington Supreme Court.

Personal life

Sanders has been twice married, and twice divorced.

References

External links

Sanders' personal site

Official biography on Washington State Supreme Court site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Richard B. Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Justices of the Washington Supreme Court American libertarians University of Washington School of Law alumni Highline High School alumni