Chief Justice Debra Stephens swears in the Washington state Supreme Court’s newest justice, Sal Mungia, on Monday in Olympia. (Jake Goldstein-Street / Washington State Standard)
After a narrow election victory in November, Sal Mungia is officially Washington’s newest state Supreme Court justice.
Mungia, along with current justices Steven Gonzalez and Sheryl Gordon McCloud, were sworn in Monday morning in an overflowing courtroom at the Temple of Justice in Olympia. Gonzalez and Gordon McCloud both won reelection unopposed. All three were elected to six-year terms.
The court’s longest-serving justice, Charles Johnson, also swore in a new chief justice. Justice Debra Stephens is taking over the seat from Gonzalez, who had been chief justice since 2021. The justices select a new chief justice every four years. Stephens has been on the Supreme Court since 2008. She previously served as chief justice beginning in 2020.
Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson lauded the importance of an independent judiciary at Monday’s ceremony. He said he used to take it for granted, but can’t anymore.
“As governor, I’ll do whatever I can to stand in front of any group of people who will have me and talk about how important, how important our entire judiciary is,” Ferguson said.
On election night, Mungia’s position on the bench was far less certain. In the initial results, Mungia, a trial lawyer, trailed Dave Larson, a Federal Way Municipal Court judge, by less than 1,100 votes.
But as election officials counted more ballots, Mungia surpassed Larson and built a lead, eventually winning by about 20,000 votes, of nearly 3.3 million cast statewide.
Though the race was nonpartisan, Mungia had the backing of progressives and almost all of the sitting justices. Larson boasted the support of the state Republican Party.
The retirement of Justice Susan Owens at the end of 2024 left the state Supreme Court seat up for grabs. Justices have to retire at age 75 and Owens had reached that threshold.
Mungia, born in Tacoma to immigrants from Mexico and Japan, served 38 years as a civil trial and appellate attorney in private practice before joining the court. He also clerked for a state Supreme Court justice.
He was on the committee of attorneys that drafted a court rule adopted in 2018 to diminish racial bias in jury selection in Washington courts.
Monday wasn’t Mungia’s first swearing in. He’s been on the court since Jan. 2 to finish out the final days of Owens’ term. His arrival means the majority of the court is now made up of people of color.
Mungia called being a lawyer “the coolest thing in the world.”
“You all who are still lawyers and are hoping to be lawyers can make the difference in a life,” Mungia said in his remarks Monday. “You can speak up for those who don’t have a voice. You give hope to those that have lost sight of what hope is. You can give justice to those who’ve been robbed of justice. That is the core value of our profession.”
On Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a dispute over the state’s ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines.