Washington state Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst has announced she will be stepping down from the court in January so she can focus on her health.  

Chief Justice Fairhurst has served on the court since 2003. Her departure will give Governor Jay Inslee the opportunity to appoint a replacement justice to the bench. It would be wise for the governor to consider a well-qualified jurist from eastern Washington.

Why? Regional balance. There is only one justice currently serving on the state Supreme Court that hails from outside of the Puget Sound. 

Regional balance is something Governor Inslee’s predecessor Christine Gregoire understood when she tapped Spokane judge Debra Stephens to serve as a justice on the court. 

Chief Justice Richard Guy, also from Eastern Washington who was appointed and retired from the court in 2000, said “It is very important that the Washington State Supreme Court have the diversity of viewpoint that a justice from Eastern Washington brings to the bench. Important issues, including water rights, land development and the cleanup of Hanford, come before the court. Issues arising in employment and business cases require an understanding of the unique types of business activities that make the eastern part of our state great.”

Newspapers across the state have also encouraged the governor, when past court vacancies have opened, to choose a judge from the east. 

Unfortunately, it seems the only way justices from outside of the Puget Sound area make their way to the Supreme Court is via gubernatorial appointment. 

Under the current system, all of the state Supreme Court Justices are elected statewide. This increases the costs of these races and realistically means that most challengers hail from the Puget Sound. Is this the best way to provide geographic and cultural sensitivity on the state Supreme Court?

As Washington Policy Center has long-recommended, another approach would be to elect the State Supreme Court based on broad regional districts, like Tennessee and Louisiana do. Washington could base the districts on the state's current three appellate divisions. People living in each district would then elect three Justices from within the boundaries of the district. This would mean that Eastern Washington would have three justices while Western Washington would have the remaining six, which roughly reflects the population distribution in our state.

This would provide more geographic diversity and allow for more targeted races to help reduce the cost of running, while providing candidates more time to focus on voter outreach, debates and forums within the boundary of their district.

Electing Justices by district even when population isn't exactly equally distributed has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court as a constitutional way to elect judges.

Under this type of change, each Division would be allocated three positions for Supreme Court Justice candidates that reside within those districts to run for. Making the switch to district based elections would require a constitutional amendment since under Article 4, Section 3 of the state Constitution justices are to be elected at-large statewide.

By changing the way we elect Supreme Court Justices to district based elections, we work toward a Court that is truly reflective of "One Washington" and not just the Puget Sound, while also facilitating more choices for voters, fewer cost barriers to running and increasing the opportunity for voter engagement.

Until this change is made, though, the state and the east will depend on the Governor to provide regional balance.

And as Chief Justice Fairhurst’s time on the bench comes to an end, we wish her all the best.