(The Center Square) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington has filed a lawsuit against the Seattle City Attorney’s Office alleging that the office’s actions essentially remove a sitting judge from the bench.
The case concerns a mandatory policy from the CAO that impacts Judge Pooja Vaddadi, a Seattle Municipal Court judge.
In February, Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison directed all assistant city attorneys to file an affidavit of prejudice against Vaddadi on all criminal cases that go through the Seattle Municipal Court, which is foremost a misdemeanor criminal court. In March, the CAO accused Vaddadi of being biased in several of her rulings.
This mandatory policy gives exclusive authority to prosecute misdemeanor cases in municipal court and limits Vaddadi’s role to addressing traffic and parking citations, according to ACLU of Washington.
The nonprofit said that the city attorney’s office went from filing a few disqualifications per month to filing hundreds on average. The organization says that is a rate that overwhelmingly exceeds the city’s prior use of judicial disqualifications.
“The Seattle City Attorney’s use of a blanket policy against Judge Vaddadi is an abuse of prosecutorial discretion, expanding what is intended to be a case-specific tool into a mandatory policy, effectively usurping the will of the voters,” ACLU of Washington Legal Director La Rond Baker said in a news release. “The people of Seattle elected Judge Vaddadi, and another elected official is undermining the democratic will of Seattle voters by preventing Judge Vaddadi from doing her job.”
The suit was filed on behalf of the Washington Community Alliance and three individual Seattle voters.
The Washington Community Alliance “is deeply concerned that the Seattle City Attorney’s use of this blanket affidavit policy usurps the will of the voters who elected Judge Vaddadi to serve on the Seattle Municipal Court Bench, undermining the democratic process,” the release states.
The Center Square reached out to the Seattle City Attorney’s Office for comment on the lawsuit.
“The Seattle City Attorney’s Office is reviewing the complaint and will respond to it in accordance with the schedule established by the court,” Seattle City Attorney’s Office Communications Manager Tim Robinson told The Center Square in an email.
