Rosselle Pekelis
Rosselle Pekelis, from a 1978 newspaper
Justice of the Washington Supreme Court
In office
1995
Preceded byRobert F. Utter
Succeeded byRichard B. Sanders
Judge of the King County Superior Court
In office
1981–1986
Personal details
Born1938
Florence, Kingdom of Italy
DiedDecember 9, 2019 (aged 81)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Children4
EducationStephens College (BA)
University of Missouri (LLB)

Rosselle Pekelis (1938 – December 9, 2019) was an Italian-born American attorney and jurist who served as a Judge of the Washington Supreme Court.[1][2] She previously served as a judge on the King County Superior Court from 1981 to 1986, the Court of Appeals from 1986 to 1995, and the Supreme Court in 1995 to fill a vacancy.[3]

Early life and education

Pekelis was born in Florence, Italy, and raised in Larchmont, New York, to a family of Italian Jews who escaped France during the Nazi Germany invasion of 1940.[1][3][4] She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stephens College and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Missouri School of Law.[2][5]

Career

Pekelis was appointed to the King County Superior Court by Dixy Lee Ray, and later re-elected to that position.[2] While there, she was widely noted for a humorous incident in which she asked a police officer in her court who was chewing gum to throw it away. The officer misunderstood her and began to place his gun in the wastebasket.[6][7][8]

Booth Gardner appointed Pekelis to the Washington Court of Appeals, a position to which she was also later re-elected; in total, she served on that court for nine years.[2] Pekelis was appointed to the Washington Supreme Court by Mike Lowry in April 1995 to fill a seat left empty by the departure of Bob Utter.[1] Major cases of hers include a 1992 Court of Appeals ruling that gender-based peremptory challenges violated the Equal Rights Amendment to the Washington Constitution as well as the United States Constitution, as well as a 1995 Supreme Court ruling for the adequacy of existing implied consent warnings given to drunken driving suspects before they took breathalyzer tests.[9][10]

In her re-election race in November 1995, Pekelis faced Richard B. Sanders, a local land use attorney.[2] Sanders defeated her in the election by about 53% to 47%.[11] Seattle Times columnist Terry Tang decried Sanders' campaign as "boorishly partisan" and wrote that the departure of "an excellent judge like Rosselle Pekelis" would likely fuel further distrust of the judiciary.[12] The race was later analyzed as the start of a trend towards increasing politicization of judicial elections.[13]

After her election defeat, Pekelis joined the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission in 1996 and formed a mediation firm with other former area judges in 1997.[14][15]

Personal life

Both her husband and ex-husband practiced law in the Seattle area.[16] She had four children.[17] Pekelis died on December 9, 2019, three months after she was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme.[3][18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Lowry appoints Rosselle Pekelis to Supreme Court". Seattle Post-Intellgencer. April 20, 1995. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Filing period expected to be quiet". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. July 24, 1995. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Fields, Asia (January 17, 2020). "Former Washington Supreme Court Justice Rosselle Pekelis, 'a force of nature,' dies at 81". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  4. ↑ Serrano, Barbara A. (November 8, 1995). "Pekelis Knocked Off Bench After 6 Months; Sanders Takes Property- Rights Road To Victory In Heated Race". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Lowry Appoints Judge Pekelis To Seat On State Supreme Court | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Under the gum". The Michigan Daily. September 28, 1982. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Fastest gum in the west". Anchorage Daily News. September 23, 1982. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Put my gun where?". The Milwaukee Sentinel. September 23, 1982. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Court: No sex-biased juries". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. May 27, 1992. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  10. ↑ White, John (September 15, 1995). "High court upholds implied consent warning; ruling puts hundreds of drunken driving cases back on track". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Supreme Court justice is ousted". Lewiston Morning Tribune. November 8, 1995. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  12. ↑ Tang, Terry (November 10, 1995). "Judicial Roulette: Is This Any Way To Pick A Judge?". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  13. ↑ Postman, David (August 18, 1998). "Voters Face Big Increase In High-Court Candidates". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Former judges form mediation firm". The Spokesman-Review. June 22, 1997. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Voters Face Big Increase In High-Court Candidates". The Seattle Times. September 12, 1996. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  16. ↑ London, Rob (October 26, 1991), "Marriage Raises Ethics Questions", The Journal-Record, retrieved October 8, 2011
  17. ↑ "State Judicial Races: Issues and Answers". The Seattle Times. November 3, 1995. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
  18. ↑ "Former Washington Supreme Court Justice Rosselle Pekelis, 'a force of nature,' dies at 81". The Seattle Times. January 17, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
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