Theodore “Theo” Angelis was sworn in as the newest Washington state Supreme Court justice on Monday.
Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, appointed Angelis to the seat of outgoing Justice Barbara Madsen, who announced her retirement in February. Angelis will take the seat through the end of this year. He’ll have to run for election in November to keep his seat.
“Anyone who has ever worked with Justice Angelis will say the same thing: For such a brilliant legal mind, he’s also the nicest guy you’ll ever want to meet,” Ferguson said at the swearing-in ceremony.
Before joining the Supreme Court, Angelis worked at K&L Gates LLP as an intellectual property litigator for 26 years. During that time, he met and worked with Ferguson when the governor was a young lawyer. He also served as a trustee for the King County Bar Association and co-chaired the attorney general’s Youth Internet Safety Task Force.
Angelis is a graduate of Yale Law School and will be the first justice of Middle Eastern descent to serve on the court.
He said he was honored by his appointment.
“It is our duty and obligation to use what we have, to use our gift to make a genuine difference; to work extremely hard and always to serve the people of this state,” Angelis said.
Retiring Justice Madsen has served on the Supreme Court since 1992, when she became the first woman to join the court by popular election. She will now teach state constitutional law at Gonzaga University’s School of Law. During her time as justice, she chaired the Gender and Justice Commission, which worked to eliminate gender bias in the justice system. She was also awarded the Joan Dempsey Klein Award for her work to improve the number of women serving as judges.
Angelis has two challengers for his seat in November: Sharonda Amamilo and Dave Larson. Whoever is elected will serve out the remainder of Madsen’s term, which runs until January 2029.
