SEATTLE — The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the Seattle City Attorney's Office over allegations of "misuse of prosecutorial power."
The lawsuit was filed Monday in a King County Superior Court, the ACLU said. In a release, the organization said the filing concerns a "mandatory policy issued in February 2024 by the Seattle City Attorney’s Office directing all assistant city attorneys to file an 'affidavit of prejudice' against Judge Pooja Vaddadi on all criminal cases."
The ACLU said the mandate from the City Attorney's Office has relegated Judge Vaddadi to addressing traffic and parking citations, "a function typically performed by magistrate judicial officers, not elected judges," per the release.
In the release, the ACLU said the City Attorney's Office went from filing a few disqualifications per month to filing several hundred on average.
Judge Vaddadi was elected to a four-year term as a Seattle Municipal Court Judge in November 2022, according to her bio on the city's website. Prior to her work on the bench, Vaddadi practiced as a public defender in Seattle Municipal and King County Superior courts, according to her bio.
KING 5 reached out to the Seattle City Attorney's Office for a response to the lawsuit, and a spokesperson sent back this response: "The Seattle City Attorney’s Office is reviewing the complaint and will respond to it in accordance with the schedule established by the court."
