Peninsula Daily News and The Associated Press
OLYMPIA — Washington state Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander announced Tuesday he will step down next year from his post and serve out the remainder of his term as an associate justice.
The remainder of the court — including Justice Susan Owens, a former Forks District Court judge — will choose the new chief justice from among the court’s ranks.
Alexander, the state’s longest-serving chief justice, is set to retire at the end of 2011, the year in which he will reach the mandatory retirement age of 75 for judges in Washington. Alexander will remain a justice on the nine-member high court for the last two years of his term.
The chief justice presides over the court’s public hearings, serves as the administrative head of the state’s judicial branch, and is the court’s main spokesperson.
Alexander said he came to his decision earlier this year and informed his colleagues this month.
The new chief justice will be selected by an internal election of the members of the court in early November, will be sworn in January and will fill the remainder of Alexander’s current term.
In addition to Owens, the other members of the court are Justices Charles Johnson, Barbara Madsen, Richard Sanders, Tom Chambers, Mary Fairhurst, James Johnson and Debra Stephens.
Alexander was elected to the court in 1994 and has served as chief justice since 2001. Before joining the state Supreme Court, Alexander served as a superior court judge for Thurston and Mason Counties and as a judge for Division Two of the Court of Appeals.
