The U.S. state of Washington enforced capital punishment until the state's capital punishment statute was declared null and void and abolished in practice by a state Supreme Court ruling on October 11,2018. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional as applied due to racial bias however it did not render the wider institution of capital punishment unconstitutional and rather required the statute to be amended to eliminate racial biases. From 1904 to 2010,78 people were executed by the state;the last was Cal Coburn Brown on September 10,2010. In April 2023,Governor Jay Inslee signed SB5087 which formally abolished capital punishment in Washington State and removed provisions for capital punishment from state law.
Andersen v. King County,138 P.3d 963,formerly Andersen v. Sims,is a Washington Supreme Court case in which eight lesbian and gay couples sued King County and the state of Washington for denying them marriage licenses under the state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. The court ruled that banning same-sex marriage is constitutional since the legislature could reasonably believe it furthers the government's interest in promoting procreation.
Stanley v. Georgia,394 U.S. 557 (1969),was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that helped to establish an implied "right to privacy" in U.S. law in the form of mere possession of obscene materials.
William Holcombe Pryor Jr. is an American lawyer who has served as the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit since 2020. He was appointed as a United States circuit judge of the court by President George W. Bush in 2004. He is a former commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission. Previously,he was the attorney general of Alabama,from 1997 to 2004.
The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. Justices must retire at the end of the calendar year in which they reach the age of 75,per the Washington State Constitution.
Timothy Michael Tymkovich is an American lawyer who has served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit since 2003;serving as chief judge from 2015 to 2022. In November 2023,he was designated by Chief Justice John Roberts to serve as a judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.
Neil McGill Gorsuch is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31,2017,and has served since April 10,2017.
Charles William Johnson is an American lawyer who has served as a justice of the Washington Supreme Court since 1991.
Thomas Jefferson Chambers was an American lawyer who served as an associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court from 2000 to 2012.
Barbara A. Madsen is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court since 1993. She joined the court in 1993 as the first woman to be popularly elected to the Court in Washington state history. She was re-elected in 1998,2004,2010,and 2016. In her years on the Washington Supreme Court,Madsen has sat in judgement on thousands of cases.
Debra Leigh Stephens is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court. She was appointed to the court in December 2007 by Governor Christine Gregoire and took office on January 1,2008. She was elected by voters in 2008 and re-elected in 2014 and 2020. Prior to her appointment,Stephens served as a judge for Division Three of the Washington Court of Appeals and as an adjunct professor at Gonzaga University School of Law. She is the first judge from Division Three of the Court of Appeals to serve on the Washington State Supreme Court,and the first woman from Eastern Washington to do so.
In the United States,child pornography is illegal under federal law and in all states and is punishable by up to life imprisonment and fines of up to $250,000. U.S. laws regarding child pornography are virtually always enforced and amongst the sternest in the world. The Supreme Court of the United States has found child pornography to be outside the protections of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Federal sentencing guidelines on child pornography differentiate between production,distribution,and purchasing/receiving,and also include variations in severity based on the age of the child involved in the materials,with significant increases in penalties when the offense involves a prepubescent child or a child under the age of 18. U.S. law distinguishes between pornographic images of an actual minor,realistic images that are not of an actual minor,and non-realistic images such as drawings. The latter two categories are legally protected unless found to be obscene,whereas the first does not require a finding of obscenity.
Susan Owens is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court since 2001. On November 7,2000,she was elected the seventh woman to serve on the court. She joined the court after serving nineteen years as district court judge in Western Clallam County,where she was the county's senior elected official with five terms. She also served as the Quileute Tribe's chief judge for five years and chief judge of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe for more than six years.
Mary Isabel Yu is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court since 2014. She served as a judge of the King County Superior Court from 2000 to 2014. She is the state's first openly gay,Asian American,and Latina justice.
The state of Washington is seen as one of the most progressive states in the U.S. in regard to lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender and queer (LGBTQ) rights;with jurisprudence having evolved significantly since the late 20th century. Same-sex sexual activity was legalized in 1976. LGBTQ people are fully protected from discrimination in the areas of employment,housing and public accommodations;the state enacting comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation regarding sexual orientation and gender identity in 2006. Same-sex marriage has been legal since 2012,and same-sex couples are allowed to adopt. Conversion therapy on minors has also been illegal since 2018.
Charles K. Wiggins is a former member of the Washington Supreme Court. He was elected to the court in 2010,defeating incumbent Richard B. Sanders.
People v. Aguilar,2 N.E.3d 321,was an Illinois Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon (AUUF) statute violated the right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment. The Court stated that this was because the statute amounted to a wholesale statutory ban on the exercise of a personal right that was specifically named in and guaranteed by the United States Constitution,as construed by the United States Supreme Court. A conviction for Unlawful Possession of a Firearm (UPF) was proper because the possession of handguns by minors was conduct that fell outside the scope of the Second Amendment's protection.
The Arlene's Flowers lawsuit was a group of merged civil suits brought against Arlene's Flowers of Richland,Washington,US,by a couple whose longtime florist declined service of their same-sex wedding,represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),and by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. The lawsuits gained national attention due to their religious and civil rights implications. The Supreme Court of the United States let stand two unanimous verdicts by the Washington state Supreme Court that same-sex couples cannot be discriminated against on the basis of religious freedom.
Sessions v. Dimaya,584 U.S. 148 (2018),was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that 18 U.S.C. §16(b),a statute defining certain "aggravated felonies" for immigration purposes,is unconstitutionally vague. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) classifies some categories of crimes as "aggravated felonies",and immigrants convicted of those crimes,including those legally present in the United States,are almost certain to be deported. Those categories include "crimes of violence",which are defined by the "elements clause" and the "residual clause". The Court struck down the "residual clause",which classified every felony that,"by its nature,involves a substantial risk" of "physical force against the person or property" as an aggravated felony.
United States v. Haymond,588 U.S. ___ (2019),is a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence for certain sex offenses committed by federal supervised releases under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(k) as unconstitutional unless the charges are proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Justices Ginsburg,Sotomayor,and Kagan joined Gorsuch's plurality opinion,while Breyer provided the necessary fifth vote with his narrow concurrence that began by saying he agreed with much of Justice Alito's dissent,which was joined by Justices Roberts,Thomas,and Kavanaugh.
