Cat McDowall
WA · Seattle Municipal Court Judge
Cat McDowall has been a Seattle Municipal Court judge since 2020 and runs its domestic violence intervention program. She was earlier a civil lawyer, a senior deputy prosecutor and a part-time judge in city and county courts.
Track record
Track record — General
General · 9 records
Joined a unanimous three-judge Seattle Municipal Court panel that refused to throw out or dismiss impaired-driving cases built on State Patrol lab tests for THC, the main chemical in marijuana. Defendants had argued the lab hid a testing interference problem it first noticed in 2020.
July 21, 2026
Source: courts.seattle.gov
Was endorsed by the 34th District Democrats for re-election to Seattle Municipal Court, Position 1.
June 10, 2026
Source: 34dems.org
Co-directed Seattle Youth Traffic Court, a program where Garfield High School students hear teen traffic ticket cases under adult supervision. The court helps set which tickets are sent to the youth court.
October 22, 2024
Source: courts.seattle.gov
Wrote an opinion, joined by one other judge, that refused to throw out drunk-driving blood test results from vials tested after their expiration date. A third judge on the panel wrote a separate opinion that suppressed those results. The ruling covered 27 combined cases.
October 3, 2024
Source: seattle.gov
Joined a four-judge Seattle Municipal Court panel that refused to throw out breath-alcohol results from the Draeger Alcotest 9510 machine. The ruling covered about 95 combined drunk-driving cases.
January 3, 2023
Source: seattle.gov
Won a full four-year term as Seattle Municipal Court judge, Position 1, without an opponent. She received 197,189 votes, or 99%.
November 8, 2022
Source: aqua.kingcounty.gov
Joined a three-judge Seattle Municipal Court panel that threw out meth and amphetamine blood test results from the State Patrol toxicology lab tested from March 2018 to October 2021. The panel found the lab mismanaged known contamination and did not tell prosecutors or defense lawyers until August 2020.
February 10, 2022
Source: seattle.gov
Was appointed a Seattle Municipal Court judge, Position 1. The Seattle City Council confirmed the appointment by a 9-0 vote.
September 29, 2020
Source: legistar2.granicus.com
Represented the state as a King County deputy prosecutor before the Washington Supreme Court in a child rape case (State v. Garcia-Salgado). The court ruled against the state and sent the case back. It found the record did not show probable cause for a court-ordered DNA cheek swab.
October 7, 2010
Source: courtlistener.com
Track record — Legal Competence
Legal Competence · 2 favorable
Was rated "Well Qualified" by the King County Bar Association's judicial evaluation committee, the second-highest of its four ratings.
August 20, 2020Favorable on Legal Competence
Source: kcba.org
Represented the state as a King County deputy prosecutor before the Washington Supreme Court in a murder appeal (State v. Ahluwalia). The court sided with the state. It ruled that retrying the defendant for second-degree murder after a hung jury did not violate double jeopardy.
May 17, 2001Favorable on Legal Competence
Source: courtlistener.com
Past race Cat McDowall ran in:
- Seattle Municipal Court Judge Position No. 1 · November 3, 2026 · Seattle city, Washington · incumbent