Seattle's Justice System Ruled Illegal
A state Supreme Court decision against Tacoma’s police court has triggered a legal crisis in Seattle, leaving local officials scrambling to save the city’s ability to prosecute crime.
The story, cleaned up
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Following the dispatch from Tacoma in Tuesday’s Post-Intelligencer, Judge Rivers received word that the Supreme Court had declared the police court of Tacoma unconstitutional. As Seattle’s court was created by a similar charter provision, the decision effectively invalidated it as well. Shortly after the new city charter went into effect, a test case was brought before Judge Humes, who initially ruled the court valid. However, the City Attorney’s arguments against this are crumbling. Yesterday, Judge Rivers departed for Olympia to secure passage of a bill currently before the state legislature empowering municipalities of the first class to create police courts. In the interim, no police court will be held; prisoners will be taken before the justice of the peace. Lawyer John Wiley, who brought the challenge, suggests that the city may be liable for every dollar collected in fines by Judge Rivers since he took office—a sum totaling over $11,000.
“There is no such thing as a de facto court. There must be a court de jure before there can be an officer de jure or de facto.”
This 1891 legal crisis highlights the early, turbulent struggle for municipal self-governance in Seattle. Today, Seattle faces similar, albeit less existential, administrative friction with state preemption over local ordinances and budgeting authority.
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