Seattle mayor asks state Supreme Court to halt recall effort against her
Attorneys for the mayor are arguing that the recall push is not based on any violation of law
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan filed a petition Monday asking the state Supreme Court to block an effort to recall her, arguing that the push is based on a policy disagreement and is vague about what she should have done differently in her handling of widespread protests in June.
In appealing her case to the state Supreme Court, Durkan argued that she hadn’t violated any law or standard.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan addresses a news conference about changes being made in the police department Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020, in Seattle. (AP)
Her argument reprises some of the arguments she made in King County Superior Court, where a judge ruled that the recall effort could move forward, but also adds some new ones.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Following the most widespread civil unrest Seattle has seen in decades, Petitioners submitted, and the trial court approved, a charge that Mayor Durkan ‘failed to institute new policies and safety measures for the Seattle Police Department’ with regard to the use of chemical crowd control measures,” Durkan’s attorneys, Rebecca Roe and William Shaw, write in the appeal. “Remarkably, neither Petitioners nor the trial court identified the particular ‘policies and safety measures’ Mayor Durkan had a duty to implement, but failed to enact.”
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Her attorneys said allowing the recall to proceed, would “chill the discretionary authority of public officials across the political spectrum.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The recall effort, led by six Seattle residents, blames Durkan for Seattle Police’s broad use of tear gas in early June, during citywide protests sparked by the police custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.
The state Supreme Court has agreed to hear Durkan’s appeal, but there will be no oral arguments. All filings and arguments are due by Sept. 22, and the court is tentatively scheduled to discuss the case in private next month.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}If Durkan’s appeal is rejected and the recall effort is allowed to go forward, petitioners would have 180 days to collect more than 50,000 signatures from Seattle voters before a special recall election could be held.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.