Justice G. Helen Whitener

Justice G. Helen Whitener was appointed to the Washington State Supreme Court in April 2020 and she was subsequently elected twice by the voters to retain her position on the State Supreme Court.

Prior to her appointment to Washington State’s highest court, Justice Whitener served as a Pierce County Superior Court judge. Justice Whitener also served as a judge on the Washington State Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals and as a pro-tem judge in Pierce County District Court and the City of Tacoma Municipal Court. Before becoming a judge, Justice Whitener litigated both civil and criminal cases for 14 years as first a prosecutor and defense attorney and later as a managing partner of the law firm of Whitener Rainey Writt PS.

Justice Whitener is a faculty member of the National Judicial College and a former faculty member of the Washington State Judicial College. Justice Whitener is Chair of the state’s Annual Judicial Conference Planning Committee, and is the Appellate Court Representative to the Washington Supreme Court Interpreter Commission. Justice Whitener is also co-chair of the Supreme Court’s Disability and Justice Task Force, and serves on the Board of Directors of the IALGBT Judges. Justice Whitener is the former co-chair of the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission, a former court representative on the Washington State Office of Civil Legal Aid Oversight Committee, and is also a former chair and co-chair of the Washington State Superior Court Judges’ Association–Equity and Fairness Committee.

Additionally, Justice Whitener is a judicial member of the International Association of Women Judges, the American Judges Association, Washington Women Lawyers and the Advisory Council for the QLaw Association of Washington.

Justice Whitener is the first Black woman to serve on the Washington State Supreme Court, the fourth immigrant-born Justice and the first Black LGBT Supreme Court Justice in the nation and the State of Washington. Justice Whitener identifies as a person with a disability and speaks often to locally, nationally, and internationally organizations on human rights, and access to justice.

Justice Whitener is well recognized by the legal community for her commitment to justice and equity. In May 2022, she received the Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington. In February 2022, Justice Whitener received the ABA’s Stonewall Award, which recognizes members of the judiciary and legal professionals who have effected real change to remove barriers on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and who have championed diversity for the LGBT community. In 2020 and again in 2021, Justice Whitener received the International Association of LGBT (IALGBT) Judges President’s Award. In June, Justice Whitener was named 2021 Public Official of the Year by The Evergreen State College’s Master of Public Administration Program for her legal and judicial careers, which have centered “on a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion that is a model for other judges and public service professionals.” In January 2021, Justice Whitener received the Western Region of the National Black Law Students Association Judge of the Year Award. The 400 Years of African American History Commission has also honored Justice Whitener, naming her a 2020 Distinguished 400 Awardee. Additionally, in 2020, Justice Whitener received the Washington Women Lawyers Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst Passing the Torch Award and she received the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges President’s Award. In 2019, Justice Whitener was awarded the Washington State Bar Association’s Charles Z. Smith Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award, the King County Washington Women Lawyers President’s Award, the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association Service to Diversity Award, and the Seattle University School of Law and Women’s Law Caucus Woman of the Year Award. In 2018, Justice Whitener received the Pierce County Washington Women Lawyers Woman of the Year Award.