Theo Angelis came to his seat on the state Supreme Court by way of a Gov. Bob Ferguson appointment.
The two had known each other when they were both young corporate lawyers at a Seattle firm early in their careers.
“It didn’t take long for me, at that time, working with Theo on those cases, to realize what a brilliant legal mind he had,” said Ferguson during the announcement of Angelis’ appointment in March 2026, according to the Washington State Standard. “He has a heart that looks out for all the people in our state.”
The editorial board was impressed by Angelis’ legal reasoning and his appreciation of the limits of judicial power. Now running to retain his appointed seat, Angelis ought to be elected to Position 5 on the Supreme Court.
Angelis earned his law degree from Yale Law School and clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit before beginning his career.
As a partner at K&L Gates, Angelis focused on appellate work and litigation. Angelis was part of a team that won the American Civil Liberties Union’s Humanitarian Award and Northwest Immigrant Rights Project’s Amicus Award.
In an interview with the editorial board, Angelis described his judicial philosophy as an “all of the above strategy,” saying he was not wed to any strict interpretive guidelines. He said the executive and legislative branch ought not to encroach on the traditional functions of the court. “But perhaps more important is that the judicial branch is not trying to become a policymaking branch,” he said.
On the importance of precedence and separation of powers, Angelis pointed to juvenile justice as a place where the court had previously overstepped.
Angelis called out a 2021 case where the state Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life without parole is unconstitutional for defendants up to age 21. The decision was based on the belief that the judgment and reasoning of young adults were not fully formed.
“That’s one where, as judges, we say, ‘Wait a second, am I intruding into where the Legislature should be legislating? They have the same access to the same scientific studies that we do.’ When we’re not deferring to the Legislature, we have to ask ourselves why we’re not doing that. (The legislative branch) should be the branch taking the lead on the juvenile justice system.”
The board endorsed Thurston County Superior Court Judge Sharonda Amamilo in the primary. She came in third. As a result, Angelis faces Dave Larson, a retired Federal Way municipal court judge, in November. Voters should choose Angelis, an independent thinker and strong addition to the bench.
