Nineteenth District state Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, released a statement on Thursday regarding a ruling by the Washington state Supreme Court earlier that day. According to Wilson, the court’s ruling in the case, Washington v. Sum, “declared that laws should be enforced differently based on a subject’s race.” )
Wilson, who serves as the ranking Republican on the Senate’s State Government and Elections Committee, announced in his statement that he would be introducing a bill in next year’s legislative session to “remind the court that it must follow the U.S. Constitution.” According to the senator’s statement, the bill would restate “the principle embodied in the 14th Amendment, that every individual citizen deserves equal protection of law regardless of race, religion, gender or other characteristics.”
According to Wilson, the court’s ruling requires state courts to “consider race and ethnicity of the allegedly seized person” when deciding if a person is properly detained.
“‘This is simply mind-boggling,” Wilson said. “Let’s leave aside the fact that this ruling is unworkable, because it doesn’t tell police when they are supposed to enforce the law and when they are supposed to look the other way.’”
Wilson said he was concerned the ruling meant, “the law should be applied unequally based on race.”
“If I were to be detained at a legal traffic stop, and the cops asked for my ID, and I gave a false name and attempted to flee, then of course I would expect to go to jail. I would expect the police to search my car and charge me with all the contraband they could find. That’s the law. No one is exempted on the basis of skin color,” Wilson said.
Wilson accused the Washington state Supreme Court of entering into a political debate, adding, “the court has no business acting like a Legislature.”
“I hope someone challenges the ruling and takes it to the U.S. Supreme Court — I think it would be overturned in an instant on 14th Amendment grounds. In the meantime, we in the Washington Legislature are often called upon to pass legislation to clarify state law in the wake of a bizarre ruling from our state Supreme Court. Clearly we will need a clarifying bill next year, because police will need to know when and how they are supposed to discriminate by race and when they are not,” Wilson said.
In his statement, Wilson recognized any proposal he would make could face pushback. He pointed to legislation passed by the Legislature “under Democratic-Party control” that would do what the senator viewed as overturning a “voter-approved anti-discrimination law.” The legislation, which was overturned by voters in a 2019 referendum, would have permitted affirmative action in admissions decisions by state colleges.
“When a significant portion of the Legislature believes racial discrimination is a good thing, we expect the courts to step in and protect the rights of the individual against the demands of the mob. I cannot tell you how dismayed I am that the highest court in this state would embrace a proposition so damaging to the core principles of our republic,” Wilson said.
