Campaign Phone Number
2064274189
Biography (max 750 char)
I am a fifth-generation Washingtonian and a judge on Division I of the Washington Court of Appeals, where I have served since 2022 and authored more than 200 opinions. Before joining the bench, I spent two decades as a trial and appellate lawyer representing workers, consumers, families, and small businesses, often against powerful institutions. I also volunteered for more than ten years with neighborhood legal clinics, helping people facing housing disputes, debt, and other urgent legal problems. I am a graduate of Washington’s public schools, the University of Washington, and the University of Washington School of Law. Throughout my career, I have been committed to fairness, access to justice, judicial independence, and the rule of law.
I am honored to have earned support from more than 100 current and former judges and justices at every level of Washington’s courts, as well as former Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Nick Brown, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, and more than 150 elected, legal, labor, and community leaders from across Washington. My campaign has also earned support from labor organizations, reproductive rights advocates, and environmental groups. My supporters include people who have worked with me, appeared before me, and know firsthand my commitment to fairness, integrity, careful legal reasoning, and judicial independence.
For more than ten years, I volunteered with neighborhood legal clinics, providing free assistance to people facing housing disputes, consumer debt, and other urgent legal problems. Many were navigating the legal system without representation and had nowhere else to turn. I have also served the legal community through the Washington Courts Historical Society as a board member, former treasurer, and former newsletter editor; as a former Puget Sound Chapter Co-Chair of the American Constitution Society; and in leadership roles with the Washington State Association for Justice and American Association for Justice. These experiences have strengthened my commitment to access to justice, public service, and the legal profession.
Courts do not make policy in the same way voters, legislatures, and executive agencies do. Their role is to interpret and apply the constitution and laws, resolve disputes, protect rights, and ensure that the government acts within its lawful authority. But our court rules must allow people to access their rights, and judicial decisions affect how laws operate in the real world and can have broad consequences for people and institutions. My approach is to decide the case before me carefully and independently, while recognizing that appellate decisions must provide principled, clear, and workable guidance for future cases.
I would recuse myself whenever required by the Code of Judicial Conduct, including when my impartiality might reasonably be questioned or I have a personal, financial, or other disqualifying interest. Public confidence requires not only actual impartiality, but confidence that cases are being decided fairly. I apply the governing ethical standards carefully and transparently, without regard to political pressure, public criticism, or the desired outcome of any party or interest group.
Respect for precedent promotes stability, predictability, and equal treatment under the law. People should be able to rely on established legal principles when organizing their lives. However, stare decisis is not absolute. Courts may reconsider precedent when it has proved unworkable, later legal developments have undermined its reasoning, or it conflicts with constitutional guarantees. Constitutional protections must also be capable of applying to circumstances earlier generations could not foresee. I would approach such cases with humility, weighing the precedent's strength and history, reliance interests, subsequent legal developments, and whether the rule remains faithful to the Constitution's underlying principles.
Campaign Phone Number
2065886172
Biography (max 750 char)
Sean O’Donnell has served for the past 13 years as a King County Superior Court Judge, pro tem justice on the Washington State Supreme Court, past president of the Superior Court Judges’ Association, and past chief judge of King County’s Criminal and Family law courts. A proud graduate with honors from Georgetown University and Seattle University’s School of Law, he previously served as a King County Prosecutor for 12 years handling serious felony matters, helping to prosecute the Green River Killer and trying WA’s first ever human trafficking case. Sean is active in judicial leadership roles to modernize and improve safety in our courts, tackle the impacts of AI on our justice system, and ensure access to justice for everyone.
I am so proud to have been rated "Exceptionally Well Qualified" for the Supreme Court by bar associations including King County, Washington State Veterans, Cardozo Society, and more. Endorsed by more than 220 fellow judges at the superior, appeals and municipal level and elected leaders including Governor Christine Gregoire, Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove, Supreme Court Justices Helen Whitener and former Justice Bobbe Bridge, U.S Congress members Marilyn Strickland and Adam Smith, mayors from more than 13 WA cities, county executives and prosecutors from more than 15 counties, democratic party organizations, labor unions, and law enforcement including WA Council of Police and Sheriffs, King County Police Officers’ Guild, Spokane County Police Officers' Guild, and many more.
For more than 25 years, I have dedicated my career to public service. I have regularly performed pro bono mediation to help low-income litigants resolve family law cases before trial– helping people reach agreements they can live with without the cost and trauma of trial. I co-led a statewide task force that secured state funding for interpreter services in rural courts across Washington and chaired King County Superior Court's Interpreter Committee. I have served as an adjunct faculty member at Seattle University School of Law and regularly preside over YMCA mock trials. Another project I'm proud of is my work with the Color of Justice program, which supports young people from underrepresented communities engaging with our justice system.
The Supreme Court’s rule is to give force and effect to legislative intent, interpret the law to resolve cases and controversies, uphold the constitution, and protect the rights of all Washingtonians. The Supreme Court’s decisions will inevitably impact policy and may at times have significant impacts in the interest of protecting people’s rights and upholding the Constitution. However, the Court must be disciplined to not overreach and override the Legislature’s primary role in shaping policy.
I look to the judicial canons (CJC 2.11) and my own judgment. Recusal is appropriate when my impartiality might reasonably be questioned: when I have a personal stake in the outcome, a family member is connected to a party, or I have prior knowledge of the specific facts. I disclose potential conflicts and give attorneys an opportunity to weigh in. That said, recusal should not be done lightly. Judges have a duty to hear cases, not avoid them. On political pressure: my role is to decide cases based on the law and the facts, full stop. Public opinion and political figures have no place in that analysis. I have spent 25 years building a record of independence and have made decisions accordingly. I will not change this approach if I am honored to serve on the Washington State Supreme Court.
Legal precedent is a critical feature of our justice system– it affords predictability and consistency to how litigants resolve disputes. At the same time, it is not an impenetrable doctrine. In Washington State, the test for overturning precedent is well established. Courts ask: Is the prior decision clearly wrong, and is it clearly harmful? If the answer to both questions is yes, it may be appropriate to overturn that precedent. This is not a decision to be taken lightly– but we have seen examples of when it is amply justified, such as the Supreme Court’s decisions to change how juveniles are sentenced for criminal offenses to better balance accountability and safety with modern developmental science, just outcomes and compassion. In short, precedent matters, but it is not absolute.
