Super Lawyers - Washington 2012

Paramount Duty

Thomas Ahearne wins one for public education

BY ERIK LUNDEGAARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY REDSTONE PICTURES

ON JAN. 5, 2012, IN MCCLEARY V. STATE OF Washington, the state Supreme Court not only affirmed the 2010 ruling of King County Superior Court Judge John Erlick, it affirmed the English language. It ruled, among other things, that paramount duty means “first and highest priority,” all means “each and every,” and ample means “considerably more than just adequate.” Somewhere, Merriam and Webster breathe a sigh of relief.

This concern for nomenclature was
part of the vocabulary test that is Article
IX, Section 1 of the Washington State
Constitution. It reads:
“It is the paramount duty of the state to
make ample provision for the education
of all children residing within its borders,
without distinction or preference on account
of race, color, caste, or sex.”
Thomas F. Ahearne, an insurance and
constitutional lawyer with Foster Pepper in
Seattle, and lead attorney for the plaintiffs,
doesn’t remember who first contacted him
about the case back in 2004. “I get calls from
people all the time,” he says from his 32nd-
floor office in downtown Seattle overlooking
Elliott Bay. “‘Oh, this person’s violating the
constitution, and the state—or whoever—is
not doing what the constitution requires, blah
blah blah.’ Nineteen times out of 20, you listen
to them on the phone, you’re polite to them,
you say, ‘If you want to come in, we can talk
about it.’ Nineteen times out of 20, they think
something’s not fair and therefore it must be
unconstitutional. So … I don’t remember.”
But he does remember the first time he
read Article IX, Section 1. “Wow,” he thought.
“I’ve read the state constitution a lot, and
I don’t recall it ever saying ‘paramount’
anywhere else.”
It doesn’t. As Ahearne is quick to point
out, only one other state constitution,
Florida’s, includes the word “paramount”
in its education provision. And even there,
education funding is deemed “a paramount
duty” … rather than “the paramount duty.”
But there was still the small matter of
rallying the troops. In the fall of 2004, Mike
Blair was the relatively new superintendent
of the Chimacum School District on the
Olympic Peninsula when Ahearne and Jerry
Painter, general counsel for the Washington
Education Association, asked to speak
before the Chimacum School Board on
the possibility of suing the state. Blair put
them on the agenda but didn’t know if there
would be any interest. He says it's “a leap”
for school boards to get involved in such a
case. “It’s a lawsuit,” he says. “You’re using
public funds. Do you get involved in a lawsuit
against the state of Washington?”
After a 20-minute presentation by
Ahearne and Painter, however, board
member Quentin Goodrich raised his hand