State Bar Not Public Employer Supreme Court Declares ‘94 Law Unconstitutional

The Washington State Bar Association is an integral part of the state’s judicial system and not subject to legislative or executive laws or directives, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The 6-3 decision declared unconstitutional a 1994 law stating the association is a public employer and subject to collective bargaining provisions of state law.

Former Chief Justice Jim Andersen, who sat as a justice protem in the case, wrote that it is first important to “clarify what this case is not about.”

“It is not about the value of collective bargaining, or about the importance of maintaining good labor relations between the Bar Association and its employees,” Andersen wrote. “What it does involve is one of the cardinal and fundamental principles of the American constitutional system, the separation of powers doctrine.”

The doctrine prevents the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government from encroaching on each other’s constitutional duties.

The case had its genesis in 1991 when several Bar Association employees attempted to organize.