‘We still have far to go’: Courts address inequities in post-pandemic world, Chief Justice González says

OLYMPIA – In the first in-person state of the judiciary address in two years, Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven González on Wednesday discussed court inequities, funding and courthouse security.

González highlighted how the courts have used the pandemic as an opportunity to address inequities within the justice system.

“We need to continue that work, and to do that, we need the Legislature’s continued partnership,” González said.

The pandemic made the use of new technologies necessary, which made the courts more accessible for many, including people with disabilities and those unable to travel or miss work for court dates. Despite returning to an in-person session, the courts are in the process of making some of these pandemic adjustments permanent, González said.

In Spokane County, courts had to make several changes to regular operations in the face of the pandemic, including adaptations like holding jury trials at the Spokane County Fairgrounds and Expo in March of 2021. This action was taken to alleviate the surge of backlogged court cases, a nationwide side effect of pandemic closures.

González told reporters last week that a number of counties still are trying to catch up on the case backlog from the COVID-19 pandemic, but he said the size of the backlog varies across the state.

Motivated in part by the killing of George Floyd in 2020, judiciary task forces also have been researching racial and gender biases in the court system.

“Court fines and fees criminalize poverty,” González said. “They have a disparate, inequitable effect on communities of color without improving public safety, and they have for decades.”

The judicial branch’s IT system is funded from municipal court fines and fees, which are disparately imposed on poorer communities, González said.

Although much of the judicial system is funded locally, González said he is asking the Legislature for funding to improve the IT system, especially as courts transition out of their pandemic operations.

There is a patchwork system across the state for how to access court records, but Gonzalez wants a more uniform system statewide, he told reporters Friday.

González emphasized the need for increased courthouse security, referencing an incident last December in which an armed man barricaded himself inside the Snohomish County Courthouse.

The state Supreme Court is operating from a temporary location in Tumwater as the Temple of Justice on the Capitol Campus in Olympia undergoes renovations. If funding and staffing allows, González told reporters Friday he hopes there would be more security at the Temple of Justice when it reopens in 2024.

“Our democracy depends on people having a safe and fair place to adjudicate their disputes,” González said. “Courthouses must be such a safe place; as recent events demonstrate, not all of our courthouse are.”

S-R reporter Laurel Demkovich contributed to this report.