Synopsis:\u00a0<\/span>The independence of the judiciary is central to a functioning democracy.\u00a0 Increasingly, political attacks on courts and judges threaten to undermine the integrity of the justice system and, by extension, erode respect for the rule of law.\u00a0 Drawing from her experience as a judge, law professor and leader in public legal education, Justice Stephens explains why we should all be concerned about judicial independence and what we can do to help ensure our legal system meets the promise of justice for all.<\/span><\/p>\n Access the Presentation Recording<\/a><\/p>\n Find additional subject resources on this library guide.<\/a><\/p>\n Justice Debra L. Stephens<\/p>\n The Honorable Debra L. Stephens has been a member of the Washington State Supreme Court since January 2008 and served as the court\u2019s 57th chief justice.\u00a0 Justice Stephens previously served as a judge for Division Three of the Court of Appeals and is the first judge from that court \u2013 and the first woman from Eastern Washington \u2013 to join the Washington State Supreme Court. She is a Spokane native, and she practiced law and taught as an adjunct professor at Gonzaga University School of Law prior to taking the bench. \u00a0A former school board member, Justice Stephens has long been committed to public education, including public legal education.\u00a0 She serves on Washington\u2019s Civic Learning Council and co-chairs the Judicial Independence Committee of the National Association of Women Judges.<\/em><\/p>\n Event flyer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On March 1, 2022, EWU’s College of Professional Programs proudly welcomed Washington State Supreme Court Justice Debra L. Stephens as our initial series speaker. Justice Stephens presented on the topic “Preserving the Rule of Law in a Politically Polarized World.” Synopsis:\u00a0The independence of the judiciary is central to a functioning democracy.\u00a0 Increasingly, political attacks on…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":5232,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-15810","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-cpp","stories_tags-speakers-series"],"acf":{"featured_video":"","subheading":"","display_byline":true,"display_date_published":true,"Links":false,"Resources":false,"featured_image_format":"cover"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/cpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/15810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/cpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/cpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/cpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/cpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/15810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16053,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/cpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/15810\/revisions\/16053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/cpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/cpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Image](\"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/cpp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2022\/02\/Debra-L-Stephens-RED-Color-Web-Res-200x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n