Susan Owens (born c. 1949) is an

American lawyer ''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

, and a current

Associate Justice Associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some state ...

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 ...

. On November 7, 2000, she was elected the seventh woman to serve on the court. She joined the court after serving nineteen years as District Court Judge in Western

Clallam County Clallam County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 77,155, with an estimated population of 78,209 in 2021. The county seat and largest city is Port Angeles; the county as a whole comprises the ...

, where she was the county's senior elected official with five terms. She also served as the

Quileute The Quileute , are a Native American people in western Washington state in the United States, currently numbering approximately 2,000. They are a federally recognized tribe: the ''Quileute Tribe of the Quileute Reservation''. The Quileute peop ...

Tribe's Chief Judge for five years and Chief Judge of the

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe (or Nəxʷsƛ̓áy̓əm ("strong people") in Klallam ) is a federally recognized Native American nation in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The tribe is part of the larger Klallam culture, part of the Coas ...

for more than six years. Owens was born and raised in

Kinston, North Carolina Kinston is a city in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 21,677 as of the 2010 census. It has been the county seat of Lenoir County since its formation in 1791. Kinston is located in the coastal plains region of e ...

, where she graduated from high school. Her father, Frank Owens, was a small town general practitioner, and her mother, Hazel is a retired law enforcement officer. She attended college at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. After graduation in 1971, she attended law school at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

, receiving her

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 ...

in 1975. She was admitted to the Oregon State Bar in 1975, and the Washington State Bar in 1976.

Notable opinions

Justice Owens signed the majority opinions sanctioning the delegations of very broad policy-setting powers to appointive-board governments. In September 2017, Justice Owens wrote for the majority when, by a vote of 5-3, it upheld the

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...

trafficking conviction of a seventeen-year-old boy for

sexting Sexting is sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, photographs, or videos, primarily between mobile phones. It may also include the use of a computer or any digital device. The term was first popularized early in the 21st ...

a picture of himself to an adult woman. In October 2018, Owens concurred when the majority abolished the state's death penalty because they found its racist imposition violated the

Constitution of Washington The Constitution of the State of Washington is the document that describes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. State of Washington. The constitution was adopted as part of Washington Territory's path to statehood in 1889. An e ...

References

External links

"Justice Susan Owens"
Washington Courts. Retrieved Jan 21, 2010. 1949 births Living people Duke University alumni People from Kinston, North Carolina Justices of the Washington Supreme Court University of North Carolina School of Law alumni 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges {{Washington-state-judge-stub