EVERETT—The Snohomish County Superior Court welcomed local journalists, judges, attorneys, and elected officials to celebrate the county’s first inaugural ‘Law Day’ – a national event observed annually to promote a greater understanding of our legal system. This year’s theme was “The Rule of Law and the American Dream.”
“I don’t think anyone in this room is aware of the attack that the judiciary has been under coupled with the increase in ways folks get information about things. We believe that to ensure what we are doing is visible to the public, and is accurately represented, is to bring as many people as possible together with us and to share what we do,” said Superior Court Judge Anna Alexander. “So that everyone knows and is not afraid of the court system.”
The day commenced at 11:30 in the Superior Court’s Jury Assembly Room – located on the second floor of the courthouse at 3000 Rockefeller Avenue – where light refreshments were served (coffee, water, veggies, meat and cheese, and cookies).
The Honorable Superior Court Judge Anna G. Alexander then led attendees on a tour to the Law Library, the first-floor halls (where family law and criminal matters are heard), and lastly to a 1 p.m. hearing to see a court session in real-time.
Judge William Steffener led the tour at the library, going over its various functions – from its uses for pro se individuals navigating the legal system (for mainly dissolution or protection order cases), attorneys needing access to caselaw from its, roughly, 1,300 physical volumes (and endless volumes online), or just simply curious members of the public.
Back of stairs, after the brief pit stop on the first-floor hallway, Superior Court Judges Anna Alexander and Judge Jennifer Langbehn shared a few words.
The new Snohomish County Courthouse was built in 1967, replacing the nearby historic Spanish Mission-style building that was built in 1911. The courthouse received a massive, five-story, expansion in 2017 using contemporary planning standards to improve operations, security and circulation by separating populations within the building through separate circulation systems.
In addition to “right-sizing” the functional spaces to meet today’s standards, the design added layers of circulation for secure access and movement within the building, replacing 20 existing courtrooms, and providing administrative departments critical to the operations of the courts.
“Courts, like bridges, are often noticed most when they fail but unlike bridges, we are asked to carry increasing weight without always being given the corresponding material. Filings become more complex, dockets grow heavier, the demands on access to justice expands (as they should), and yet the expectation remains that the system will be timely, careful, and fair. That expectation is not unreasonable, it is in fact a promise,” said Judge Langbhen. “Investments in courts is not an indulgence, it is infrastructure no less than roads and schools.”
Superior Court Judges Patrick Moriarty, Miguel Duran, and Joseph Wilson were also in attendance, alongside Snohomish County Council members Nate Nehring, Megan Dunn, Sam Low (also Washington State Representative of the 39th District), Snohomish County Sheriff Susanna Johnson, and Snohomish County Prosecutor Jason Cummings.
Though this was the first year Snohomish County Superior Court has observed Law Day, it was created in 1958 at the urging of the American Bar Association and proclaimed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a moment when the world was divided, not only in geography but in competing ideas of power.
“The U.S. chose, quite self-consciously, not to celebrate force, not personality, but law. That choice remains one of our most audacious national commitments,” said Judge Langbhen. “Eisenhower wrote that Law Day would be time for Americans to reflect on the great heritage of liberty, justice, and equality under law. That phrase ‘Under the Law’ does a great deal of work. It suggests constraint, it suggests humility, and it suggests that no one – not a litigator, not a lawyer, not a judge, is the measure of justice…the law is.”
Author: Kienan Briscoe
