Carolyn Dimmick Final PDF.indd - Washington Secretary of State

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Dimmick: Sure. …He was of the people. You could call him “ Ronnie.” You just felt like you could chat away and talk to him. He wasn’t so high and mighty and so full of himself. I didn’t think of him as a politician. Let’s put it that way. Hughes: Who are some of your other political heroes? Dimmick: People ask me that, and I don’t really know what I would say. Hughes: Did you meet Sandra Day O’Connor on that first trip to D.C.? U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor visits the federal courthouse in Seattle. From left, O’Connor, Chief Magistrate Judge Karen Strombom, Judge Carolyn Dimmick, and Judge Robert Lasnik Dimmick: Oh yes, I met Sandra. She would be our representative to the 9th Circuit. She would come to the conferences, so I would see her. Hughes: She’s your kind of gal? Same age, similar experiences finding your way in a male-dominated profession? Dimmick: She’s great. There’s a picture up there of her with women. Hughes: I’d love to see that. A lot of people think when they read articles or imagine the way politics work, that this judicial nomination would be a real smoke-filled room kind, litmus test kind of thing. Obviously the Reagan White House, in concert with two Republican senators, knew what they wanted and got ’er done. Dimmick: They didn’t ask me a thing. … Nothing about philosophy, no litmus test, no anything. Hughes: Pretty remarkable. Dimmick: I know it was. Hughes: The debate has raged for years about “activist” judges. Dimmick: Yes. I know. Hughes: It seems as if the outs are saying that they want to be in so they can have their activist judges, as opposed to the other side’s activist judges. Do have strong feelings about activist judging? 88
Dimmick: The way I interpret that is (the debate) over strict constitutional adherence vs. stretching it to include a lot of things that were never meant to be. One who follows the law as a strict constructionist is not an activist judge. An activist judge is somebody who can find reasons to go outside what is commonly accepted. Hughes: So if you’re opposed to the death penalty you’ll find any kind of subterfuge? Dimmick: That’s right. Hughes: Is that an indictment you’d make – that we’ve seen too much activism on the part of judges? Dimmick: You know, I don’t really think so. I don’t really think that because I’ve listened to the issues; I’ve seen it, and I haven’t agreed with some of it, but I see that they’ve got a point of view. They could be just as right as I am. Hughes: Here’s a news story from the time of your appointment to the Supreme Court in 1980. It says, “Dimmick said the courts have gone too far in protecting the rights of criminals by giving them, ‘Every possible consideration, down to the smallest technicality.’” Dimmick: I was quoted? Hughes: Yes. Dimmick: Hmmmm. Hughes: This is a piece in The Seattle Times in 1984. Let’s make sure I’ve got the context right: “Three Washington State judicial conservatives likely will be President Reagan’s nominees to fill new federal judgeships when the 99 th Congress convenes next year. The Times has learned the three: State Supreme Court Justice Caroline Dimmick, former but longtime Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Robert Bryan, and Yakima attorney Alan McDonald, will be formerly announced at a 2 P.M. press conference today in U.S. Senator Slade Gorton’s Seattle office. Dimmick’s confirmation would cause a vacancy on the state Supreme Court, which the governor could fill by appointment. Yesterday Dimmick refused comment. At the time of the appointment in 1980 Dimmick said the courts had gone too far in protecting the rights of criminals by giving them every possible consideration, down to the smallest technicality.” Dimmick: They must have got me on that day. I think what happened there was that the 89
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Carolyn Dimmick Research by John Hu
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granddaughter are going for a visit
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it of that in him. But he was the e
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Hughes: That’s a wonderful name.
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Hughes: Emmett Watson, who became o
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taking a man’s job if they went b
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Hughes: Judge, with that glint in y
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and we traveled around putting on s
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Hughes: And your expectations? Did
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Dimmick: I liked the little stories
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Hughes: Are you musical? Dimmick: N
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take the last class - so I didn’t
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through. I never met a legal job I
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Dimmick: No, it never entered my mi
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Dimmick: Sure, yes. Hughes: We were
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Dimmick: Well, I was right in the T
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man who ran the office. He was a fr
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Hughes: Did they have a Seattle off
Page 38 and 39: Hughes: What was he like? Tell us a
Page 40 and 41: Dimmick: I worked for him three dif
Page 42 and 43: Dimmick: Who wrote the article? Hug
Page 44 and 45: Hughes: Did you find that juggling
Page 46 and 47: Hughes: So you got to do some cool
Page 49 and 50: Dimmick: Sure. I had all the prelim
Page 51 and 52: Hughes: When did you meet Barbara?
Page 53 and 54: Hughes: What kind of cases did you
Page 55 and 56: Hughes: Charlie Smith was on the Ki
Page 57 and 58: Dimmick: I didn’t do that. But on
Page 59 and 60: Hughes: That’s really well done,
Page 61 and 62: Her old paper, the loyal Seattle P-
Page 63 and 64: Dimmick: Oh, good old Ed! I don’t
Page 65 and 66: Dimmick: Right. Hughes: So it’s i
Page 67 and 68: Dimmick: Well, I knew everybody but
Page 69 and 70: I was so happy my parents were ther
Page 71 and 72: the nation, where you’re appointe
Page 73 and 74: Hughes: I just heard this morning o
Page 75 and 76: against that. I’m for this. I’m
Page 77 and 78: you the compliment that you are a v
Page 79 and 80: Hughes: Now they’re spending hund
Page 81 and 82: Dimmick: Yes it is. First he had ra
Page 83 and 84: emotional benefits of parenthood.
Page 85 and 86: 73 percent of the vote. Hughes: Aga
Page 87: Dimmick: So I went in before the co
Page 91 and 92: Dimmick: It’s totally amazing. Ab
Page 93 and 94: Judy - if people think that’s how
Page 95 and 96: Hughes: Who designed this structure
Page 97 and 98: Hughes: What do you like to do? Dim
Page 99 and 100: Hughes: Do you have any kind of int
Page 101 and 102: Interview with Federal Judge Robert
Page 103 and 104: modest and so self-effacing that sh
Page 105 and 106: Index Symbols “60 Minutes” 76 A
Page 107: R Ray, Dixy Lee 64, 65, 67 Reaber,
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Carolyn Dimmick Final PDF.indd - Washington Secretary of State

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