Richard B. Sanders was elected to the Washington Supreme Court in 1995. During his 26 years of legal practice prior to becoming a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Sanders litigated more than 100 appeals (no fewer than 60 of which resulted in published opinions).
He served on the court between 1995 and 2011, and was narrowly defeated in 2010 with more than 49.6% of the vote.
On the Supreme Court he was one of its most prolific authors and is recognized nationally for his published opinions and other writings. See www.JusticeSanders.com.
As a private practitioner he championed the civil rights of his clients and as a Justice he regards protecting our constitutionally guaranteed liberties as the first duty of our highest court.
Sanders believes the court must protect all the legal rights of all the citizens who come before it all the time. “We have no second class citizens,” he says. His special interest is the Washington State Constitution, and he often quotes his favorite passage, Article 1, Section 1: “governments . . . are established to protect and maintain individual rights.” Since taking his seat on the Supreme Court, Justice Sanders has served as an adjunct professor teaching appellate advocacy at the UW School of Law, and guest lectured on state constitutional law at Seattle University.
He has written articles for professional journals (including Gonzaga Law Review and NYU Annual Survey of American Law) and texts (including In the Name of Justice, where his article appears with those of Alex Kozinski, Richard Posner, and Alan Dershowitz, among others).
He is sought after to speak before local, state, and national organizations such as the Institute for Justice and Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. He has spoken on diverse topics including civil liberties, land use, the Washington State Constitution, legal ethics, and Abraham Lincoln, among others. His work is also featured in David’s Hammer, authored by Clint Bolick.
Sanders is a native of Tacoma and spent the best years of his childhood there. He moved to Seattle where he graduated from Highline High School. While at Highline High he was elected president of the school’s debate club, and he earned the rank of Eagle Scout. Justice Sanders received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington after participating in the political science honors program and playing[1] in the Rose Bowl. He thereafter earned his J.D. in 1969 from the University of Washington School of Law. During his years at the University, Justice Sanders wrote “The Devil’s Advocate,” a weekly column of opinion in The Daily, the student newspaper.
He is the father of Laura Sanders, a 2009 summa cum laude graduate of the University of San Francisco.
* The French Horn
