Mary Yu

Governor Jay Inslee nominated Justice Yu to the Washington Supreme Court.

Notable quotes:

• "When reviewing cases with regard to the state constitution, we look to the original intent to determine what the words actually mean and what the framers originally intended."
• Justice Yu said she was "just absolutely delighted" about Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) and that Justice Neil Gorsuch "simply read the text carefully" in that case.
• Justice Yu identifies as "the first member of the LGBTQ community to serve on the Washington Supreme Court."
• Justice Yu signed a 2020 letter that said, "The legal community must recognize that we all bear responsibility for this on-going [racial] injustice, and that we are capable of taking steps to address it, if only we have the courage and the will."

Notable court cases:

• Justice Yu signed the majority in Ingersoll v. Arlene's Flowers (2017), in which the Washington Supreme Court declared that not even a strict-scrutiny test would protect a florist's religious freedom to refuse service to gay weddings.
• Justice Yu wrote the majority opinion in Leishman v. Ogden Murphy Wallace, PLLC (2020), holding that a gay man alleging discrimination could not carry out a retaliatory lawsuit against a government contractor.
• Justice Yu signed the dissent in Colvin v. Inslee (2020), which was a case about whether certain prisoners had a right to be released because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The dissent argued that the case should not be dismissed yet because some justices still had important questions to be answered.
• Justice Yu signed the majority opinion in Woods v. Seattle's Union Gospel Mission (2021), which argued that a religious employer could only legally deny someone employment on the basis of sexual orientation if the job in question were ministerial. Justice Yu also wrote a concurrence expressing her hope that religious employers will not exercise their legal power to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation when hiring ministers.
• The Black v. Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (2020) case concerned a law that failed to meet the Washington Constitution's requirements by amending another law without quoting it. Justice Yu signed the majority opinion, which held that the law in question did not actually violate the Washington Constitution because anyone could understand the new law without conducting research on other laws.
• Justice Yu wrote a concurrence in Eyman v. Wyman (2018), arguing that the majority of the Washington Supreme Court was overstepping the court's authority and that the court ought to honor the letter of the law.
• Justice Yu joined the Washington Supreme Court majority in State v. Gregory (2018), which held that the death penalty as currently administered was unconstitutional because the penalty was administered in a racist way.
• See also State v. Blake (2021), Ass'n of Wash. Bus. v. Dep't of Ecology (2020), In re Recall of Inslee (2019), Watson v. City of Seattle (2017), McCleary v. Washington (2012), and City of Seattle v. McKenna (2011).