Richard Browning Sanders is a former justice of the

Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. ...

Early life and education

Richard Sanders attended

Highline High School Highline High School is a public high school in Burien, Washington, United States, located about 3.5 miles from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. Highline High School, the flagship high school of the Highline Public Schools district, op ...

. In school, he played

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in the band and was a member of the debate team. He graduated from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, where he studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and wrote for the '' Daily of the University of Washington'', then went on to earn his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from the same university.

Career

After law school, Sanders became an active litigation attorney who, according to ''

Seattle Metropolitan ''Seattle Metropolitan'', or ''Seattle Met'', is a monthly city magazine covering Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the ...

'' was "best known for representing builders and property owners battling land-use constraints. But he also represented many poor and minority clients in discrimination and injury suits." In 1976, he was one of the first lawyers to defy the American Bar Association's Code of Professional Responsibility that proscribed public advertising. Sanders became a dues-paying member of the

Libertarian Party Libertarian Party may refer to: *Libertarian Party (Argentina) * Liberal Libertarian Party * Libertarian Party of Australia * Libertarian Party of Canada ** British Columbia Libertarian Party **Libertarian Party of Manitoba (now Freedom Party of Ma ...

in 1984. He was elected in 1995 to a partial term to fill a vacancy on the Washington Supreme Court, defeating

Rosselle Pekelis Rosselle Pekelis (1938 – December 9, 2019) was an Italian-born American attorney and jurist who served as a Judge of the Washington Supreme Court. She previously served as a judge on the King County Superior Court from 1981 to 1986, the Court ...

despite a "not qualified" rating from the King County Bar Association. He was re-elected to two additional full six-year terms in 1998 and 2004. During his tenure on the court, Sanders wrote more dissenting opinions than any other justice in the court's history. He surprised the conservatives who had backed his first bid by adopting strong civil libertarian positions, casting the sole dissent against Washington's

three-strikes law In the United States, habitual offender laws (commonly referred to as three-strikes laws) have been implemented since at least 1952, and are part of the United States Justice Department's Anti-Violence Strategy. These laws require a person who ...

and frequently siding with criminal defendants in appellate cases, including one case in which he was the sole justice to posit that a Black motorist wrongfully arrested for a traffic violation had a right to resist arrest. Sanders attracted national headlines when, during a 2008 banquet of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, he shouted "Tyrant! You are a tyrant!" at

U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the ...

Michael Mukasey Michael Bernard Mukasey (; born July 28, 1941) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States from 2007 to 2009 and as a U.S. district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of N ...

, after which Mukasey fainted. Two years later, he let his society membership lapse, declaring he felt closer to the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

than the Federalist Society. In 2010, Sanders ran for reelection and lost to Charlie Wiggins in one of the closer elections in Washington State. Sanders attracted controversy over a statement he made, and later retracted, that certain minority groups "have a crime problem", as well as his vote upholding a ban on gay marriage. In 2012 he ran and lost a bid to return to the Washington Supreme Court.

Personal life

Sanders has been twice married, and twice divorced.

References

External links

Sanders' personal site

Official biography on Washington State Supreme Court site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Richard B. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Justices of the Washington Supreme Court American libertarians University of Washington School of Law alumni Highline High School alumni