‘They’ve put political hacks on the WA Supreme Court’: Jim Walsh says justices timed natural gas ruling to discourage voters

The Washington Supreme Court struck down a voter-approved natural gas initiative last week in a 6-3 ruling, and the state Republican Party chair said the timing was no accident.

Jim Walsh, who chairs the Washington State Republican Party, told “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio that sources told him the opinion on Initiative 2066 was finished months before the court released it Sept. 17 and was held until weeks before a general election, in which five of the court’s nine seats and three more citizen initiatives are on the ballot.

“My sources in and around the state Supreme Court say that this opinion on the natural gas ban was ready months ago,” Walsh said. “They held on to it for some months and released it now, in September and kind of mid-September, to make a point, basically to make a statement, a kind of flex, if you will, about the state Supreme Court’s ability and willingness to override the will of the people.”

I-2066 passed in November 2024 with 51.7% of the vote, nearly 2 million ballots, and carried 34 of 39 counties. Chief Justice Debra Stephens wrote the majority opinion, finding the initiative contained four distinct subjects in violation of the single-subject rule under Article II, Section 19 of the state constitution. The court voided the measure in its entirety.

Walsh acknowledged he does not have definitive proof of the court’s intent.

“It’s hard to get into somebody’s head. Impossible to say what the intention is,” Walsh said. “But what my sources say, leaving the intention aside, is that this opinion could have been released months ago. So they held on to it for a reason, and I think that reason’s political.”

Walsh calls the majority a rubber stamp for the governor

Walsh said five of the six justices in the majority are appointees of Washington Governor Bob Ferguson or former Washington Governor Jay Inslee.

“I believe that the majority in the current configuration of the state Supreme Court is a rubber stamp for the governor,” Walsh said. “And it’s not just this current governor; the last governor, too. They’ve stocked it, they’ve stacked it, they’ve put political hacks on the state Supreme Court who do the bidding of the executive branch.”

Walsh cited Article I, Section 1 of the Washington State Constitution, which states that all political power is inherent in the people, and Article II, which establishes the initiative process.

“The people never gave up the power to make law or overturn law at their will, using the initiative and/or referendum process,” Walsh said. “That is a right that the people retain. They never delegated it to judges or governors or legislators. They kept it from the beginning.”

Walsh says the single-subject rule is enforced only when it’s politically useful

Walsh compared the I-2066 ruling to the court’s repeated rejection of $30 car tab initiatives, arguing the single-subject rule is applied selectively.

He pointed to Initiative 2081, the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which the court upheld despite addressing multiple categories of parental notification. The court found all of the provisions fell within a single subject.

“That is an example of where the law worked, and the court, I think, acted properly,” Walsh said. “But it’s like Skinner’s rat, John. The worst thing is the inconsistency. Sometimes they get it right, but at critical moments, they don’t get it right, and that’s what makes the points in which they don’t get it right all the more egregious and look all the more politically partisan.”

Justice Sal Mungia, writing in dissent, argued I-2066’s provisions were “just two elements of one subject, which is protecting the option to use natural gas.” Walsh said the dissent was “truer to the mark than the goofy majority opinion.”

Walsh warns the income tax repeal will face the same challenge

KIRO host John Curley asked what happens if Initiative 645, the measure to repeal the state’s income tax, passes in November. Walsh predicted opponents will immediately sue.

“They would probably sue and claim that I-645, the initiative to repeal the state income tax, violates the single-subject rule,” Walsh responded. “And they would claim, ‘Well, it repeals the state income tax, but it also says you can’t do another state income tax in the future. That’s two things.'”

Walsh believes the I-2066 ruling will discourage some voters but predicted it would also generate a backlash, pushing others to vote yes on all three November initiatives and against the incumbent justices.

Five of the court’s nine seats are on the Nov. 3 ballot, the most in a single election cycle in the court’s history. Four are open seats created by retirements, and one, Position 7 held by Chief Justice Stephens, who authored the I-2066 majority opinion, is a reelection race.

“I think there’s going to be a backfire on the state Supreme Court,” Walsh said. “I think they’re breaking the Code of Judicial Conduct, because they’re making arbitrary decisions that are undermining trust in the state Supreme Court.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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