OLYMPIA – Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge is stepping down at year’s end to lead a $10 million juvenile justice reform program, the high court said Friday.
Gov. Chris Gregoire will appoint a replacement to serve the rest of Bridge’s term, which runs through 2008.
Bridge, 62, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2000 by then-Gov. Gary Locke. She replaced retiring Justice Barbara Durham.
Bridge previously served 10 years as a King County Superior Court judge, including positions as presiding judge and chief juvenile court judge.
“It’s been a wonderful ride, it really has,” she said Friday.
Bridge might have faced a tough re-election bid in 2008. A warning shot was fired last year, when TV ads from construction industry groups claimed Chief Justice Gerry Alexander was too sympathetic to Bridge following her 2003 drunken driving arrest.
Bridge said the prospect of a bruising election campaign didn’t influence her decision to retire. But she decried the influx of third-party spending in Supreme Court races, saying the campaigns have become too political and “distract the electorate” from choosing jurists.
Tests after Bridge’s 2003 arrest revealed her blood-alcohol content was nearly three times the legal intoxication threshold. A Seattle Municipal Court judge later granted deferred prosecution on the drunken driving charge and dismissed a hit-and-run charge.
Bridge’s punishment included attending an alcohol treatment program and using a device that keeps a car from starting if it detects alcohol on the driver’s breath. The state Commission on Judicial Conduct also reprimanded her.
Bridge said she had “absolutely” no regrets about returning to the bench after the arrest. “I got very strong support from colleagues that it was the right thing to do,” she said.
When she officially retires at the end of the year, Bridge will go to work full time on her passion, juvenile justice reform.
As president of the Center for Children and Youth Justice, a nonprofit that Bridge and her husband Jonathan founded last year, Bridge will shepherd $10 million in MacArthur Foundation grants.
Bridge said she hopes to help government agencies and other nonprofits by addressing broad problems with juvenile justice, including school truancy, racial disparities and mental health.
Asked to name memorable Supreme Court cases, Bridge recalled a 2005 decision that found a woman who raised a child – but never adopted – could seek rights as a “de facto parent.”
That ruling, which Bridge wrote, recognized that a child’s relationship with the adults who raise him or her must be protected in custody disputes, Bridge said.
Bridge also pointed to her dissent in last year’s gay marriage ruling. She was one of four minority justices who disagreed with the state Defense of Marriage Act’s ban on gay unions.
Tom McCabe, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, said Bridge had grown out of touch with Washingtonians on property rights, crime and other issues.
“Too often, she protected government at the expense of citizens,” he said.
Gregoire praised Bridge’s legal career, and said her next act will help Washington’s youngsters.
“This new calling is a reflection of a lifetime in which she has been a champion for children,” Gregoire said.
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