December 2019 Bar Bulletin
State of Washington
v. Villela
No. 96183-2 (9-0)
October 17, 2019
“Our constitution cannot be amended by statute.”
— Justice Steven González
Justice González
Writes for the Court
Our state constitution protects our right to privacy. Const. art. I, § 7. Under our constitution, the State and its agents may not disturb our “private affairs … without authority of law.” Id. “Authority of law” generally means a warrant issued by a neutral magistrate or a long-standing exception to the warrant requirement.
We are asked today whether the legislature has created “authority of law,” as understood in our constitution, by passing...