The supreme court justice who led the attack on the state’s charter schools has been demoted by her colleagues on the court.  In a closed-door session on November 3rd, the court’s members removed Justice Barbara Madsen as Chief Justice and replaced her with Justice Mary Fairhurst, who tried to help charter school children by writing the dissenting opinion in the charter school case.  

Justice Madsen is the author of the court’s notorious ruling to close the state’s charter schools, thus threatening the education of some 1,200 children across the state.  Independent analysis later found that Justice Madsen had copied five pages of her 20-page ruling from a brief sent to the court by attorneys working for executives of the WEA union, one the parties in the lawsuit.  The copied sections raised questions about the validity and independence of her legal judgment.

Justice Madsen stirred controversy after an interview in February 2016 with Austin Jenkins on his TVW public affairs show Inside Olympia, when she indicated her belief that the court has unlimited power in the McCleary case. (At 25:56—27:02)

Justice Madsen’s harsh ruling against charter school families was later nullified when lawmakers of both parties passed a bill to accommodate the ruling, while providing full funding for Washington public charter schools.  Governor Inslee initially refused to sign the bill, but later allowed it to become law without his signature. 

Charter schools remain popular with parents.  Currently about 1,600 children attend public charter schools in Washington, and three additional schools are due to open in the fall of next year.

Executives at the WEA union have not given up, however, and they have filed another hostile lawsuit against families.   Justice Fairhurst’s promotion to Chief Justice is a positive development for public school families, and indicates, as the next case looms, that charter schools may receive fairer treatment from the high court in the future. 

This report is part of WPC's Charter School Follow-Up Project