Supporting Wallace over Estudillo not about ethnicity

Does supporting Nick Wallace for Superior Court Judge reflect ethnic bias? I’d like to clear the air on that subject, at least as I see it.

When I retired last year, nine candidates for the position participated in an independent poll of Grant County lawyers. Fifty-one lawyers rated each candidate on legal knowledge, ethical character, etc. Nick Wallace placed first in all five categories. The person eventually appointed, David Estudillo, scored second in some categories and third in others.

But here’s the catch: more than half the potential responses to Mr. Estudillo were either blank or affirmatively said “don’t know him well enough to have an opinion.” He was virtually an unknown to local lawyers; he’d never appeared before me or my benchmates, and spent most of his legal career in King County. In announcing Mr. Estudillo’s appointment, Governor Inslee said he would be the only Latino judge in Eastern Washington.

All across Washington, courts would be enhanced by the inclusion of persons of color, including Latinos. Our courts should look like our citizenry. But not by appointing an unknown unfamiliar with the court and many of the legal issues that routinely come before it.

Mr. Estudillo’s ethnicity is an asset — a perspective that may be helpful in some cases. But it doesn’t qualify him to serve as judge, any more than Mr. Wallace’s disqualifies him. The governor can appoint any lawyer in the state to fill a court vacancy, even one who’s never set foot in Grant County. But the voters always get to choose at the next election.

Choosing one far more experienced, both as lawyer and as judge, and far more familiar with the people and legal issues of this county, is not an act of ethnic bias. It’s a prudent choice for the future of our superior court.

Evan E. Sperline

Grant County Superior Court Judge, Retired

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