Is it unusual for WA Supreme Court justices to lack bench experience?
When Gov. Bob Ferguson revealed his picks for the Washington Supreme Court, he lauded the two appointees, Colleen Melody and Theo Angelis, as exceedingly qualified.
Yet critics on social media have since posted that neither previously served as a judge.
Concerns and speculation have also bubbled up surrounding the pair’s past contributions to Democratic candidates, including Ferguson.
But is it abnormal for a Washington Supreme Court justice to lack prior bench experience, or ethically improper of them to have previously given money to political campaigns?
Wendy Ferrell, associate director for the state Administrative Office of the Courts, said there’s been a long line of justices without past judge credentials since she’s been with the office. That includes Charles W. Johnson, the high court’s current longest-serving justice, who was elected to serve starting in 1991, she said via email.
In another case, the late Justice Mary Fairhurst ultimately rose to become chief justice after working in the state attorney general’s office, she added.
Ferrell offered this list of state justices, dating back to the 1990s, who lacked judicial priors:
- James Dolliver
- Charles W. Johnson
- Phil Talmadge
- Richard Sanders
- James Johnson
- Mary Fairhurst
- Tom Chambers
- Sheryl Gordon McCloud
- Sal Mungia
- Colleen Melody
- Theo Angelis
As a caveat to the list, she said “there may have been a few instances of someone sitting as a temporary, pro tem (as an attorney filling in as a judge) but none were officially serving in the capacity as a judge prior to appointment or election.”
Melody, whose tenure began earlier this year, worked in the state AG’s office for 11 years as head of its civil rights division, according to her bio on the Washington Courts’ website. She helped lead high-profile challenges against the Trump administration’s so-called Muslim travel ban and its attempt to eliminate birthright citizenship. She was also a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division and has practiced before the state Supreme Court.
Angelis, who will soon take over for retiring Justice Barbara Madsen, counts more than two dozen years of legal experience, according to a news release from the governor’s office. The attorney has served as a partner at the Seattle firm K&L Gates. His resume features “extensive appellate experience” and he’s appeared in administrative, state and federal courts on behalf of defendants and plaintiffs alike, per the release.
Both appointees will need to win elections to retain their seats later this year.
The state Supreme Court’s makeup has always been a blend of former judges and lawyers who had not served on a court, said Hugh Spitzer, a retired University of Washington School of Law professor who taught state constitutional law and lawyer ethics. That dates back to 1889, when Washington became a state, and even before then — when there was a territorial supreme court, he said.
“So there’s nothing strange about a mixture,” he said.
It appears that many U.S. Supreme Court justices also had not previously sat on a bench.
In 2017, the Pew Research Center wrote that at least 68 of that court’s 112 justices enjoyed prior judge experience, seeming to indicate that a sizable minority did not have the same bona fides. Included among those without a judicial background: former U.S. chief justices William Rehnquist and John Marshall, according to Wisconsin’s Marquette University Law School faculty blog.
The U.S. Supreme Court system does differ from Washington state’s, though, in that justices don’t run for office and are appointed for life, Spitzer said.
For transparency’s sake, he later added that he ran as a lawyer for the Washington Supreme Court in 1998 but ultimately lost to then-King County Superior Court Judge Faith Ireland.
What about the WA justices’ contributions?
Both appointees had donated to Democratic candidates and Ferguson’s political endeavors over the years, state data shows.
Melody contributed to Nick Brown’s 2024 campaign for attorney general and, most recently, gave $100 to Ferguson’s gubernatorial bid in August of that year, according to the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).
Last June, Angelis gave $2,000 to Ferguson’s future 2028 campaign, PDC records show. He also donated a smaller amount to the Washington Senate Democratic Campaign in July, with his last gift going to Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, a Seattle Democrat, in October.
Spitzer said he doesn’t view these donations as ethically problematic — although that’d be different if some appointee had signed a check for a huge amount, like $1 million. Over the last century or so, he said, it’s been common for state Supreme Court appointees to include those who’ve contributed to the governor’s political party or campaign.
“It doesn’t buy you an appointment, because the process is very competitive and long and complicated,” he said.
It shouldn’t be surprising, Spitzer said, that a Democratic governor would choose justices with similar political leanings. Former Republican governors Dan Evans and John Spellman tended to pick judicial appointees who were active in the GOP’s moderate-to-progressive wing, he continued.
By Spitzer’s estimation, Melody and Angelis will “call cases the way they see them.”
“Our history in this state is that once somebody’s on the court, governors cannot rely on them to vote the way the governor wants in any particular case,” he said.
The Commission on Judicial Conduct, an independent agency that investigates complaints of alleged judicial misconduct, states in its rules that judicial candidates and judges may not give money to a nonjudicial public-office candidate or to a political organization.
According to the commission, someone becomes a judicial candidate upon publicly announcing their candidacy, filing or formally declaring as a candidate, allowing or engaging in fundraising or accepting support or contributions, or being nominated for the position.
The appointments of Melody and Angelis were respectively announced on Nov. 24, 2025 and March 9, 2026.
Melody submitted her application for the role on Oct. 19, 2025, a spokesperson for the governor said. Angelis did the same on Feb. 23, 2026.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information.
This story was originally published March 27, 2026 at 5:05 AM.
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