Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

A lying justice

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed while giving a speech last week. This made a small bit of news, but the big news in the blogosphere was the heckler that stood up and yelled “Tyrant. You are a tyrant.” as he was speaking. Speculation quickly arose that it was Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders, although this was unconfirmed. Of course, when pressed Justice Sanders denied it.

Sanders said he did attend the gathering of the Federalist Society last week, but had gone back to his hotel before Mukasey made his evening address.

Today though, Justice Sanders has a different story.

After listening to Mukasey defend the Bush administration's counterterrorism policies — its detainment practices at Guantánamo Bay, its interpretation of the Geneva Conventions' reach — Sanders stood and shouted "Tyrant! You are a tyrant!"

"Frankly, everybody in the room was applauding or sometimes laughing, and I thought, 'I've got to stand up and say something.' And I did," Sanders told The Seattle Times on Tuesday. "I stood up and said, 'Tyrant,' then I sat down again, then I left."

Either Justice Sanders left before the speech as he said in yesterday's article, or he left after heckling Mukasey during the speech. Either he was there to make his little political statement or he wasn't. Either way, in at least one of his public statements after the event he knowingly told the public a lie. He'd make a great politician — he already exhibits one of the primary character traits of the class.

This man is a State Supreme Court Justice! It leaves me wondering — how can the citizens of the State of Washington expect justice and integrity in case law when we can't trust the people meting out that justice to tell the simple truth?