Carolyn Dimmick Final PDF.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Hughes: For a lady who was fiscally conscious and once said, “You’re not going to spend
$60,000 and put in another bathroom at the Temple of Justice,” were you able to bring this
project in on budget?
Dimmick: We did, on budget, exactly. We had to cut things when we got toward the end
because things were more expensive. But we always went for materials that were native,
that were good looking, that were easily attainable. So we managed to do it.
Hughes: What did it come in at, at the end, in terms of price tag?
Dimmick: Oh, I can’t tell you that. (Editor’s Note: It was $171 million, according to The
Daily Journal of Commerce in Seattle.)
Hughes: How many floors do you have here?
Dimmick: Nineteen. Some of them are double height, of course, for the courtroom floors.
Hughes: And the suites here for the judges seem outstanding. Does each judge have a
conference room?
Dimmick: Everybody has a conference room, bathroom, closet, two law clerks in the
reception area. But we took space out of the offices to have the joint library that you see
right next to my court, so that we have one library on each floor rather than three libraries.
Hughes: So you are now on “senior” status?
Dimmick: Yes, as of 1997.
Hughes: Is that mandated by law or is that something the judge does voluntarily?
Dimmick: You do it after so many years on the bench, and so old. You don’t have to do it.
You can if you want to.
Hughes: You can be an active federal judge until your dying day?
Dimmick: You can be an active judge even if you’re a senior judge.
Hughes: So how does that work for you?
Dimmick: What happens is, if I’m a senior judge then they get a replacement for me.
Robert Lasnik is my replacement.
Hughes: So what’s the workload for you now?
Dimmick: Anything you want it to be. As a senior judge you take as little or as much as you
want.
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