It’s been a busy week in Seattle courts, though much has flown under the radar. Let’s get caught up.
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Appeals court denies motion to revive Compassion Seattle charter amendment
In a terse ruling today, the state Court of Appeals has denied Compassion Seattle’s motion for a stay on a lower court’s ruling removing the CA29 charter amendment from the November ballot.
Continue readingCompassion Seattle changes mind, appeals ruling after all
Last Friday, after King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer removed the “Compassion Seattle” charter amendment from the November ballot, the campaign announced that it would not appeal the ruling given the short amount of time until King County Elections needs to print ballots. But this morning in a surprising reversal, the campaign went ahead and filed a motion for an emergency stay of Judge Shaffer’s ruling in anticipation of a full appeal to follow.
Continue readingKing County judge strikes down Compassion Seattle initiative, removing it from November ballot
This afternoon, King County District Court Judge Catherine Shaffer issued a ruling from the bench declaring the proposed “Compassion Seattle” charter amendment, also known as CA29, to be outside the scope of the local initiative/charter amendment process and ordered it removed from the November ballot. UPDATE 8-31-21: Here is Judge Shaffer’s written ruling.
Continue readingU.S. Supreme Court strikes down CDC eviction moratorium, and undermines local moratoriums in the process
The big legal news yesterday was a 6-3 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that dissolved the CDC’s most recent version of a moratorium on evictions during the COVID-19 emergency. That in itself was not surprising, as the Court had signaled earlier in the summer that it was heading in that direction. But buried in its ruling are two paragraphs that quietly undermine state and local moratoriums as well, including those in effect in Washington and Seattle.
Continue readingState Supreme Court issues big ruling on impounding homeless person’s lived-in vehicle
This morning the Washington State Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in the case of City of Seattle vs. Long, in which the city impounded the truck that a homeless man was living in and that was parked illegally on public property, and then charged him $950 to cover the towing company’s fees (later reduced to $550 by a magistrate).
Continue readingCompassion Seattle charter amendment draws another legal challenge
After a failed attempt to challenge the ballot title of the Compassion Seattle proposed charter amendment, local advocacy groups have filed a new legal challenge asking a judge to keep it off the ballot entirely.
Continue readingSPD’s busy day full of odd and notable moments
Earlier this week SCC Insight previewed all of the important events happening for the Seattle Police Department today. When all was said and done, much more was said than done — but some of what was said was still pretty interesting.
Continue readingCatching up on court cases: August 4, 2021
What’s better than election coverage? Litigation coverage! We have four cases to catch up on today.
Continue readingState Supreme Court clarifies rules for King County inquests, allows pending inquests to move forward
This morning the Washington State Supreme court issued a powerful 49-page unanimous ruling resolving a fierce, multi-year, multi-party battle over how inquests should be conducted in King County. The ruling upholds portions of the changes that King County Executive Dow Constantine enacted through a series of executive orders, but wipes out other parts.
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