KCLL Klues: Washington State Legal Research

A new article co-authored by Seattle Councilmember Mike O’Brien and Sahar Fathi takes on the topic of legal challenges that face local climate change initiatives and can be found at the Seattle Journal of Environmental Law’s website.  The article traces the decision by former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels to adopt policies consistent with the Kyoto Protocol in 2008 and how those policies are being challenged.  For more information about the legislation mentioned in the article, you can go to the Washington Legislature’s Website and click on Bill Information.  If you would like to do some additional reading on the topic of “Green Development”, you can check out our online catalog for titles that we have on the topic of environmental law and sustainability.

Beginning January 3, 2011, the King County Superior Court Clerk’s Office hours will be changing from 8:30-4:30 to the following:

• The office will open at 9:00 a.m.
• The office will be closed from 12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. daily.

The office will continue to close for the day at 4:30 p.m. as it currently does.  eFiling will not be affected by these changes, nor will these changes impact the current practices which establish the filing date for documents or cases filed.  If you have questions, you can contact the Superior Court Clerk at 206-296-9300 or log on to their website.

The downtown Neighborhood Legal Clinic will not be open today in the library.  Anyone who has an appointment for today will be resceduled for next Thursday, December 30th.  If you have any questions, you can call them at 206-267-7070.

Through the end of the year, the Housing Justice Project will not be open in the evenings.  They will continue to be open 8-10:30AM everyday when court is in session.  If you have any questions, you can call them at 206-267-7090.

This is just a reminder that the MRJC library will be closing early on December 17, 2010 for staff training.  The library will open at 8:30 AM and close at 11:00 AM.

Joseph Chester Self was the 73rd person to be executed in Washington and the last person to be executed in the state until Westley Allan Dodd’s execution on January 5, 1993. During the 30 year hiatus, Washington’s capital punishment statute was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972.

In Part Two of this episode of KCLL’s Sidebar, we talk to Jim Burns, who was among two men to prosecute Mr. Self.  For additional information about the case, you can go to the History Link website which we have linked to here.

On June 24, 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled by a broad 8-1 majority that signatories of referendum petitions generally do not have a constitutional right, in light of open government laws, to keep their identities private.  The case, Doe v. Reed, 09-559, questioned whether or not the State of Washington could release the names of individuals who had signed a petition to put Referendum 71 on the ballot.  The decision, which was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., contained several concurring opinions and one dissent. For the full text of the decision, you can go to the Supreme Court website, or click on this link.  For analysis of the case, as well as other cases which have been recently decided by the Court, you can click here.

Law-enforcement officers statewide can begin stopping and ticketing drivers this week for speaking on the phone while holding it to an ear or texting while driving.  Lawmakers modified the law to make talking on a cell-phone without a hands-free device  or texting a primary offense and a $124 fine.  For information on this change, you can go to the Washington State Department of Licensing site.

Due to illness, the How to Finish Your Divorce class has been cancelled for this evening, May 12th.  Just as a reminder, these classes are typically held on the second Wednesday of every month.  Please check our class schedule for upcoming dates.

Today, President Obama introduced Solicitor General Elena Kagan as his Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice John Paul Stevens.  Ms. Kagan is the first woman to serve as solicitor general and as dean of the Harvard Law School.

For commentary about this nomination, as well as a profile of the nominee, you can click here.  Additional information, as well as the official White House Press Release can be viewed here.