Pooja Vaddadi is currently an adjunct professor of legal writing at Seattle University. Prior to joining the staff, she served as a public defender with the Northwest Defenders Division (NDD) of the King County Department of Public Defense. Vaddadi’s career as a public defender gives her a rare and valuable perspective that most judges - who come from prosecutorial or corporate law - don’t have. She has seen firsthand the deterioration and crisis at our prisons while working with clients who are unhoused or suffering from mental illness.
More so than Eisenberg, Vaddadi approaches justice from the angle that there’s no amount of incarceration that’s going to fix crimes of poverty or desperation that she sees daily. Vaddadi is serious about the ways in which she would implement restorative justice from the bench, and speaks of how these efforts need to be sustained carefully over time because there’s no quick fix. If elected, she would be a counterweight to the more heavy-handed and prosecution-friendly judges and city officials in her efforts to treat everyone fairly with respect towards the law. She has a strong set of endorsements from Democratic organizations and progressive elected officials.
This is a somewhat tricky race, as experienced judges are critical in the post-COVID restrictions courts. But we lean towards Vaddadi because we believe she would add valuable perspectives to the bench, and because of her vision for restorative justice and criminal justice reform.
Pooja Vaddadi is currently an adjunct professor of legal writing at Seattle University. Prior to joining the staff, she served as a public defender with the Northwest Defenders Division (NDD) of the King County Department of Public Defense. Vaddadi’s career as a public defender gives her a rare and valuable perspective that most judges - who come from prosecutorial or corporate law - don’t have. She has seen firsthand the deterioration and crisis at our prisons while working with clients who are unhoused or suffering from mental illness.
More so than Eisenberg, Vaddadi approaches justice from the angle that there’s no amount of incarceration that’s going to fix crimes of poverty or desperation that she sees daily. Vaddadi is serious about the ways in which she would implement restorative justice from the bench, and speaks of how these efforts need to be sustained carefully over time because there’s no quick fix. If elected, she would be a counterweight to the more heavy-handed and prosecution-friendly judges and city officials in her efforts to treat everyone fairly with respect towards the law. She has a strong set of endorsements from Democratic organizations and progressive elected officials.
This is a somewhat tricky race, as experienced judges are critical in the post-COVID restrictions courts. But we lean towards Vaddadi because we believe she would add valuable perspectives to the bench, and because of her vision for restorative justice and criminal justice reform.
Because of a Tim Eyman initiative, the Legislature is required to submit any bill it passes that closes tax loopholes or raises revenue to a non-binding advisory vote. The Legislature had a historically productive 2022 session, resulting in several advisory votes appearing on the ballot. We hope the Legislature will change the law to remove these meaningless measures in the future.