City of Spokane v. Rothwell

¶1 Spokane county voters elect district court judges. But those judges also preside over Spokane city municipal cases, with the judges sitting as “municipal court judges” by designation. This is despite the fact that state statute mandates that only city voters may select municipal judges. And all of the Spokane County district court judges are designated as part-time municipal judges despite another state statute that requires designation of municipal departments. We conclude, therefore, that the way in which the Spokane municipal judges are elected is contrary to state law. We therefore…