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02/11/2008: "A Historical Day"

(State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander prepares to administer the oath of office to Judge Linde)

History was made on Friday when veteran judge John Linde received the oath of office from state Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander. In the 135 year history of a county court system, Judge Linde thus became the first Superior Court Judge to be solely dedicated to a San Juan County district

The Superior Court room was overflowing with supporters, friends, politicians, and curious citizens who had come to be a part of, and a witness to, the historical event. But it was not just the public that showed up, so did the judicial branch of government.

Eleven judges were in attendance for the oath of office and the ceremonial robing, representing King, Island, and Skagit counties, and of course the State was represented by Chief Justice Alexander.


(L to R: Judge Dave Needy, Skagit County Superior Court; King County Superior Court Judge Greg Canova; King County District Court Judge Barbara Linde; Skagit County Superior Court Judges Mike Rickert and Susan Cook; Island County Superior Court Judges Alan Hancock & Vickie Churchill; State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, and Stewart Andrew, San Juan County District Court Judge.

Linde is not unaccustomed to the wearing of a robe. He was appointed San Juan County District Court Judge in 1977, and held the judgeship for twenty-two years, winning five elections in a row for the position before choosing not to run for the term that began in January 1999.


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(Judge Hancock congratulates and praises Judge Linde)
Judges Alan Hancock and Vickie Churchill were the last to serve as our local Superior Court Judges, but neither live in the county, and both also represented Island County. Linde told the audience that Judge Churchill was the driving force in helping to create a judicial district for San Juan County, which allowed the new judgeship for San Juan County to be created to help take pressure off of the court system; pressure that had been generated by court load increases in Island and San Juan counties over the years.

When the new district was created there arose the question of who would be the judge. Existing law allowed the County Council to put the matter to a vote of the people, or to take the politically easy way out and let the Governor make the choice. The Commission decide to let the governor handle the job.

While judges are to be appointed and elected on a non-partisan basis, it was widely believed that Linde was a Republican, and SJC Prosecutor Randy Gaylord -who also applied for the job- was a Democrat, so the natural question asked was, would a governor who was elected as a Democrat appoint based on party affiliation, or on perceived merit and experience?

It took a long time for the governor to make her decision, many would say too long, but in the end, after many interviews by state bar associations, the governor’s legal council, and finally by the governor herself, Linde received the appointment.

Churchill and Hancock repeatedly praised the professionalism and abilities that Linde had displayed in his previous years on the bench, both as the sitting District Court Judge, but also when he sat from time-to-time as a pro-tem Superior Court judge. While Linde and Gaylord had wondered why it was taking so long for the governor to decide, one attorney said that while “most any local attorney could learn how to be a judge, but it was clear that only Linde had the experience needed to perform the job on day one.”