Claremont, Calif. (November 15, 2011) — Pitzer College alumnus Steven González ’85 has been appointed by Governor Christine Gregoire to the Washington State Supreme Court.
González, who was named to the Superior Court bench by former Governor Gary Locke in March 2002, won a contested election the same year and was then re-elected in 2004 and 2008. He currently serves as a criminal department judge. He also served in the civil and family law departments.
Before his appointment to the bench, González served as an assistant US attorney in Seattle for the Western District of Washington. He was part of a prosecution team that won a federal terrorism conviction against Ahmed Ressam in 2001 stemming from a millennium bomb plot.
Previously, he was a domestic-violence prosecutor for the City of Seattle and worked as an associate in the business law department at the Seattle law firm Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson.
González will be only the second justice of Hispanic heritage to serve on the state’s high court. His appointment is to replace retiring Justice Gerry Alexander who will be stepping down at the end of the year.
He earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in East Asian studies from Pitzer College and a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
