judicial candidates condemn activism

EPHRATA — Judges have no business ruling on the basis of their personal feelings or beliefs, or trying to bend the law to their worldview.

That was the general view of all four judicial candidates at Wednesday evening’s candidate forum staged at the American Legion Hall in Ephrata.

“An activist judge inserts his or her personal or political veiws into his or her opinions,” said Appellate Court Chief Judge George Fearing, who is running for another term. “My role is to apply and discern the intent of the constitution and the legislator and judge for all people.”

Fearing, who has served as an appeals court justice since 2013, appeared opposite Patrick McBurney, an attorney from the Tri-Cities.

“Judges are not supposed to be politicians,” Fearing said. “I give each case individual attention.”

McBurney, however, said that judges cannot escape worldview, and he promised to bring a very conservative understanding to the appeals court.

“Everyone has a worldview and they bring it,” McBurney said. “It will shape the way you look at and decide cases. That’s what I’m offering.”

Nick Wallace, an attorney in Ephrata vying to become Grant County’s next Superior Court judge, compared an activist judge to an umpire who decides in the middle of a game that it suddenly takes four strikes, rather than three, to get called out.

“An umpire doesn’t write the rules,” he said.

Incumbent Judge David Estudillo was on the defensive for much of the evening as an “outsider” who had to prove his service to Grant County. Estudillo, who was appointed to the bench in 2015 by Gov. Jay Inslee, was born and raised in Sunnyside, though he practiced law for a number of years in the Seattle area.

Estudillo was also asked why he sometimes spoke to defendants in Spanish in his courtroom despite the fact the language of record in Washington courts is English and court rules require certified translators.

The judge responded that his comments were only about times and dates for follow-up appointments, something he believed was important to communicate to Spanish-speaking defendants.

“I made no substantial comments in Spanish,” he said.