Seiniger seeks Supreme Court seat

COEUR d'ALENE - Boise attorney William "Breck" Seiniger says he feels a strong sense of duty to serve on the Idaho Supreme Court.

"With almost 35 years of experience as a lawyer representing 'the little guy,' I will lend a perspective to the court that will restore balance for those who can barely afford to participate in an increasingly complex and expensive justice system," he said.

He is taking on incumbent Joel Horton in next month's primary, with the winner getting the seat because there is no race in November's general election.

"I feel that there is not a passion for fairness and justice up there (on the Supreme Court) the way there was when I was a young lawyer in the 1980s," Seiniger said Friday. "I feel like there is a sense that ideology is in control."

Seiniger said state courts and judges have too often been "micromanaging" evidentiary questions such as expert witness credibility, taking more and more decision making away from juries.

"People exercise power directly" in two ways, Seiniger said. One is through elections, the other is jury service.

"In elections they decide who gets to make the law, but particularly where the government is the defendant, the power goes back to 12 jurors," he said. "That's where it needs to stay."

More and more power is being taken from juries by judges, he said.

"What is it about trial lawyers that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hates?" he said. "It's that they get the case to the jury."

Seiniger attended the University of Idaho's law school, class of 1978. He practiced law in Pocatello in the late 1970s, and has had an office in downtown Boise since 1980.