Supporting the rights of our Muslim neighbors is important; any lessening of their rights affects us all. The time to speak up is now. This year Dee, my spouse, and I became more politically active than we have been in the past. We marched in the MLK Seattle march for the first time and in […]
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Happy Law Day! I’m Sanjay Walvekar, the new legal community outreach specialist at the WSBA. I’m excited for this opportunity to introduce myself and to share my thoughts on this important holiday.
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This month’s cover of NWLawyer is dedicated to Solicitor General, Noah Purcell, who stopped the president’s travel ban in its tracks. This month’s cover of NWLawyer is dedicated to Washington’s Solicitor General Noah Purcell, who went head to head with the Trump administration in the Ninth Circuit Court to stop the president’s travel ban in […]
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Confirming justices to the U.S. Supreme Court involves several steps. Here’s how the confirmation process works. More than a year after the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the Senate Judiciary Committee has finally completed confirmation hearings to fill the vacancy, and the full Senate is poised to vote amid threat of filibuster. President […]
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In State v. Mecham, the Washington Supreme Court issued a fractured opinion in a DUI prosecution in which the state entered into evidence the defendant’s refusal to perform field sobriety tests (FST). Although the court stated in its June 16 ruling it was affirming the defendant’s conviction, the actual result appears to reverse the conviction […]
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The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled June 9, 2016, in Peruta v. County of San Diego that the Second Amendment does not include the right to concealed carry. The court heard the case en banc and decided 7–4.
Read More…Read three examples of how tribal common law can lead to results differing from those reached under state law. If you are unfamiliar with tribal courts, you may be surprised to hear they apply tribal customs and traditions to resolve legal disputes. Indeed, I find this is one of the most interesting parts of working […]
Read More…Under State v. Gauthier, citizens have the right to refuse a warrantless blood test, and such refusal cannot be used as evidence at trial. Defense attorneys have argued for years that a breath or blood test constitutes a search and that without a warrant, citizens should have the right to refuse the search without consequence. Washington courts […]
Read More…Review the Court’s reasoning and learn what comes next for the parties in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. Remember that your children are not your own, but are lent to you by the Creator. — Native American Proverb The story of 4-year-old Baby Veronica in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 2013 WL 3184627 was lost […]
Read More…Learn more about the Salinas v. Texas ruling and how it could affect cases in Washington. On June 17, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States continued its stream of criminal procedure holdings, this time “holding” that the prosecutor’s use of a defendant’s pre-Miranda silence as evidence of guilt does not violate the defendant’s Fifth […]
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