Free Republic

Sanders should have recused himself from case, ethics experts say. Justice Richard Sanders, who sued the state to get documents about himself, could be awarded much more money because of a ruling he wrote recently for the state Supreme Court. Sanders' lawyers say new legal guidelines -- ones the justice himself created -- mean he should get far more than the $18,112 he was already awarded in his lawsuit... Legal-ethics experts say Sanders probably should not have participated in the high court case because of its similarity to his own. "You shouldn't act as a judge if you stand to...

A special panel of the Washington Supreme Court made up of nine substitute judges reprimanded one of the court’s justices yesterday for visiting a facility that holds sexually violent predators. The panel ruled that the justice, Richard B. Sanders, had “created an appearance of partiality” by questioning inmates and accepting documents from them at the McNeil Island Special Commitment Center on a visit there in January 2003. The center holds sex offenders who have completed their criminal sentences but who the courts have found are likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence. A case concerning the constitutionality of...

The justice, Richard B. Sanders, visited a facility that holds sexually violent predators. A special panel of the Washington Supreme Court made up of nine substitute judges reprimanded one of the court’s justices yesterday for visiting a facility that holds sexually violent predators. The panel ruled that the justice, Richard B. Sanders, had “created an appearance of partiality” by questioning inmates and accepting documents from them at the McNeil Island Special Commitment Center on a visit there in January 2003. The center holds sex offenders who have completed their criminal sentences but who the courts have found are likely to...