Carolyn Dimmick Final PDF.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Hughes: Yes, a female majority from 2003-2005. What did you think of that?
Dimmick: I thought it was great.
Hughes: Did you know those ladies?
Dimmick: Yes.
Hughes: Madsen, Ireland, Bridge, Owens and Fairhurst.
Dimmick: Fairhurst was a law clerk when I was on the Supreme Court.
Hughes: I didn’t ask you earlier if you had entertained the notion of applying for a law
clerk job when you graduated from Law School, like Smith and Utter.
Dimmick: No, it didn’t occur to me. It was not the kind of work that I wanted to do.
Hughes: And now the newest member of the Supreme Court is Debra Stephens, who is
obviously extraordinarily bright, and looks like she’s 25 years old.
Dimmick: I know it!
Hughes: Are there other female judges that you view as extremely capable, that you stay
in touch with, and that you feel as if you’re mentoring?
Dimmick: Oh yes, I get along with all of them. I really enjoy Bobbe Bridge. I’m sorry she’s
not there (on the Supreme Court) any more.
Hughes: Did they call you often? Even in an era when there are a lot more female judges,
is there a network?
Dimmick: Oh sure.
Hughes: What kind of things do you talk about?
Dimmick: I have a group of three judges and two lawyers. We meet about once a month
and go out to dinner and do stuff.
Hughes: I wanted to ask you about the judicial canons of ethics, about running for office.
Do you think that Canon Seven is too restrictive in mandating that judges refrain from
“inappropriate” political activity?
Dimmick: It’s pretty constraining and it really should be because why are you going to
announce how you would decide a case when you haven’t even heard the case? That’s
the thing. You can have a philosophy, but when the facts come up in front of you that
goes out the window. You’ve got to base it on the facts. You can say “I’m against this. I’m
74