Judicial Conduct Panel To Review State Justice Justice Richard Sanders Spoke At Anti-Abortion Rally
The state board that disciplines errant judges will decide whether Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders broke judicial conduct rules when he spoke at an anti-abortion rally last winter.
Depending on the findings of the Commission on Judicial Conduct, Sanders could face sanctions ranging from a simple admonishment to a recommendation that his eight colleagues remove him from the bench.
His case marks the first time the 16-year-old commission has considered disciplining a judge of the state’s highest court, commission staffers said Wednesday.
Sanders, elected in 1995 to his first six-year term, said he will fight the allegations: basically, that he had breached his duty to remain impartial on an issue that could come before the court, in this case abortion rights.
Sanders, known to be one of the more conservative state justices, will be represented by attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union on grounds he had a constitutional right to speak.
“I think the nut of it is that I’m being put on trial simply for giving a short speech, and that is not the way a free society should work. The government is putting me on trial for giving a speech,” he said Wednesday.
He was interviewed after the board’s staff disclosed that the commission thinks probable cause exists to believe Sanders violated several canons of conduct by speaking briefly at a Jan. 26 “March for Life” rally at the Capitol.
At the rally, Sanders said:
“I want to give all of you my best wishes in this celebration of human life. Nothing is, nor should it be, more fundamental in our legal system than the preservation and protection of innocent human life. By coincidence, or perhaps by providence, my formal induction to the Washington State Supreme Court occurred about an hour ago. I owe my election to many of the people who are here today and I’m here to say thank you very much and good luck. Our mutual pursuit of justice requires a lifetime of dedication and courage. Keep up the good work.”
Facts cited by the commission staff to support the allegations against Sanders include the fact that his participation was arranged in advance and that he carried a red rose at the event, a symbol identified with the anti-abortion movement.
Moreover, the staff said, Sanders “knew or reasonably should have known that this event was a political demonstration to support the anti-abortion, pro-life movement, to support political candidates identified with that movement, and to support legislative initiatives identified with that movement, which, if enacted, are likely to come before the court on which the respondent sits.”
The commission gave Sanders 21 days to respond to the allegations. If he chooses to fight them, as he said Wednesday he would, the commission will conduct a hearing.