Court Elects Durham To Second Term As Chief

Exercising new authority to choose a leader, the nine-member Washington State Supreme Court on Thursday voted to stick with what works - the justices elected Barbara Durham to serve a second term as chief justice.

Her selection by secret ballot marked the first time in the 107-year history of the court that the chief justice was elected by other members of the court. The authority came courtesy of a constitutional amendment approved by voters last year.

For the past century, the chief’s job rotated automatically among senior justices, regardless of leadership talent, administrative skill or political savvy. Some chief justices have not wanted the job, such as Bill Williams, who served in the post from 1983 to 1984. Others have been ill-suited to it.

Durham, 54, who was re-elected earlier this month to a third six-year term on the bench, spearheaded the campaign for the change, saying a chief justice must be an effective administrator as well as a good judge.

“I think you have to want to be a leader and be interested in business and communicating,” she said in an interview after her election, which occurred during an administrative meeting. “Let’s have somebody who wants it and knows about it, as opposed to somebody who may not like it and not do it well.”

The chief justice speaks for the court and is responsible for administrative details in the operation of the trial and appellate court system. The chief also heads the 13-member Board for Judicial Administration, a state-level policy group of the judiciary.

“There’s no question it is more work,” Durham said. “The administrative duties are very time consuming. I do a lot of work with all the other lawyers of the judicial branch. The time I don’t spend in court, I spend on the road.”

Before voters approved the change last year, some justices expressed concerns privately that requiring them to elect a leader could draw politics into the court.