{{Short description|American judge (born 1964 or 1965)}} {{Use mdy dates|date = April 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Helen Whitener |image = |office = Justice of the Washington Supreme Court |appointer = Jay Inslee |term_start = April 24, 2020 |term_end = |predecessor = Charles K. Wiggins |successor = |birth_name = Grace Helen Whitener |birth_date = {{birth year and age|1964}} |birth_place = Trinidad and Tobago |death_date = |death_place = |spouse = Lynn Rainey |education = Baruch College (BBA)<br>Seattle University (JD) }} '''Grace Helen Whitener''' (born 1964<ref>{{cite web |title=G. Helen Whitener (b. 1964 ‐ present) |url=https://www.piercecountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/96025/GH-Whitener-}}</ref>), known professionally as '''G. Helen Whitener''', is a Trinidadian-American attorney serving as an associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court. Whitener was nominated by Governor Jay Inslee on April 13, 2020, to fill the seat of retiring justice Charles K. Wiggins.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/38b6f46382dfed494caafaa8a39755ed|title=Judge G. Helen Whitener appointed to state Supreme Court|date=2020-04-13|website=AP NEWS|access-date=2020-04-14}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Whitener was born and raised in Trinidad. She moved to the United States when she was 16 to receive medical care. She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in international marketing and trade from Baruch College, followed by a Juris Doctor from the Seattle University School of Law.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://law.seattleu.edu/newsroom/lawyer-magazine/judge-g-helen-whitener-speaks-up-for-human-rights-in-her-birth-country-of-trinidad|title=You can go home again: Judge G. Helen Whitener speaks up for human rights in her birth country of Trinidad : Seattle University School of Law : Seattle Washington|website=law.seattleu.edu|access-date=2020-04-14|archive-date=November 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101022226/https://law.seattleu.edu/newsroom/lawyer-magazine/judge-g-helen-whitener-speaks-up-for-human-rights-in-her-birth-country-of-trinidad|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Legal Career == After graduating from law school, Whitener worked as a public defender, prosecutor, and private defense attorney.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tacomaweekly.com/featured-news/judge-whitener-named-keynote-speaker-for-2018-black-women-rise-conference/|title=Judge Whitener named keynote speaker for 2018 Black Women Rise Conference|last=Staff|first=Tacoma Weekly|date=2017-10-26|website=Tacoma Weekly|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-13|archive-date=September 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926161123/https://tacomaweekly.com/featured-news/judge-whitener-named-keynote-speaker-for-2018-black-women-rise-conference/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
She served as a judge on the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals for two years and then as a pro-temp judge on Pierce County District Court as well as<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Washington State Courts - Supreme Court Bios - Justice G. Helen Whitener |url=https://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_trial_courts/supreme/bios/?fa=scbios.display_file&fileID=Whitener |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=www.courts.wa.gov}}</ref> on the Pierce County Superior Court from 2015 to 2020, having been appointed by Governor Inslee and elected unopposed in 2015 and 2016.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.king5.com/article/news/politics/inslee-to-name-new-state-supreme-court-justice/281-6f2766aa-ec7a-46ae-a684-62f080c7da10|title=Pierce County Judge G. Helen Whitener named to Washington State Supreme Court|website=KING|date=April 13, 2020 |access-date=2020-04-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/G._Helen_Whitener|title=G. Helen Whitener|website=Ballotpedia|language=en|access-date=2020-04-13}}</ref>
On April 13, 2020, she was appointed to the Washington Supreme Court by Governor Jay Inslee.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Inslee appoints Judge G. Helen Whitener to the Washington State Supreme Court |date=April 13, 2020 |url=https://www.governor.wa.gov/news-media/inslee-appoints-judge-g-helen-whitener-washington-state-supreme-court |access-date=April 21, 2020}}</ref> She successfully ran for election in 2020 for the remaining two years of Wiggins's term,<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mynorthwest.com/1814052/judge-whitener-washington-supreme-court/?|title=Judge G. Helen Whitener appointed to the WA Supreme Court|date=2020-04-13|website=MyNorthwest.com|access-date=2020-04-14}}</ref> winning 66% of the vote.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.sos.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/Official%2520Canvass%2520of%2520the%2520Returns%2520G2020_%2520Certification%252012%252001%25202020.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250629114315/https://www.sos.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/Official%2520Canvass%2520of%2520the%2520Returns%2520G2020_%2520Certification%252012%252001%25202020.pdf |archive-date=2025-06-29 |url-status=live|title=Canvass of the Returns of the General Election Held on November 3, 2020|last=Wyman|first=Kim|author-link=Kim Wyman|date=December 1, 2020|work=Secretary of State of Washington|access-date=July 15, 2025}}</ref> Outside of strictly judicial positions, Justice Whitener has served as the co-chair of the Minority and Justice Commission since 2018<ref>{{Cite web |last=Austin |first=Andrew |date=2018-11-21 |title=Judge Helen Whitener Named Co-chair of Minority & Justice Commission |url=https://lgbtqjudges.org/judge-helen-whitener-named-co-chair-of-minority-justice-commission/ |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=LGBTQ+ Judges |language=en-US}}</ref>, the co-chair of the Supreme Court's Disability and Justice Task Force in 2022<ref>{{Cite web |title=Washington State Courts {{!}} Disability Justice Task Force |url=https://www.courts.wa.gov/disability-justice-task-force/ |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=www.courts.wa.gov}}</ref>, and is chair of the state's Annual Judicial Conference Committee<ref name=":2" />. She is also a member of the International Association of Women Judges<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home - International Association of Women Judges |url=https://www.iawj.org/ |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=www.iawj.org}}</ref>, the American Judges Association<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Judges Association |url=https://www.amjudges.org/american-judges-association |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=www.amjudges.org |language=en}}</ref>, Washington Women Lawyers<ref>{{Cite web |title=Washington Women Lawyers - Home |url=https://www.wwl.org/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260525192536/https://www.wwl.org/ |archive-date=2026-05-25 |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=www.wwl.org |language=en}}</ref>, and the Advisory Council of the QLaw Association of Washington<ref name=":2" />.
<big>'''State v. Jackson (2020)'''</big>
State v. Jackson was a decision regarding the 5th amendment and the due process clause<ref name=":2" /> in regards to inmates being unconstitutionally shackled in court, and in which Justice Whitener wrote the opinion for the case<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Faces of Justice: LGBTQ+ State Supreme Court Justices |url=https://afj.org/the-faces-of-justice-lgbtq-state-supreme-court-justices/ |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=Alliance for Justice |language=en-US}}</ref>. The case ultimately sides with the Defendant John Jackson Sr.,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=State v. Jackson |url=https://advance.lexis.com/documentpage/?pdmfid=1000516&crid=ede9a4a9-429a-4ac4-9b22-163186431b38&config=00JABhZjY0ZmI3Ny04MzkwLTRlMzAtYjllNC03MzdlOTgyYTY2MDEKAFBvZENhdGFsb2eA00v3ycmKG7ve38pfdpvF&pddocfullpath=/shared/document/cases/urn:contentItem:60C9-WBH1-F528-G325-00008-00&pdcontentcomponentid=506039&pdteaserkey=sr0&pditab=allpods&ecomp=6s65kkk&earg=sr0&prid=81e3fbef-4d23-4a96-ab44-04a38afc7af9 |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=advance.lexis.com}}</ref> that his due process rights had been violated by being forced to be shackled in court without an “individualized inquiry" for needing such shackles. The decision upheld the decision from the Court of Appeals that “the shackling of Jackson without an individualized inquiry into whether shackles were necessary violated his constitutional rights.”<ref name=":3" /> Whitener and the other Washington Supreme Court Justices also found that “this violation was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, leaving Jackson with a constitutional violation without a remedy.”<ref name=":3" /> and they reversed the Court of Appeals “holding that this violation was harmless."<ref name=":3" /> The rest of the justices on the supreme court concurred with the decision, and a new trial was set for Jackson.<ref name=":3" />
== <big>Honors & Awards</big> == Justice Whitener has a long list of awards that she has won over the course of her career. Justice Whitener received her first major award in 2018 with the Pierce County Washington Women Lawyers Women of the Year Award, and the following year she received the Washington State Bar Association's Charles Z. Smith Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion Award as well the King County Washington Women Lawyers President Award, Seattle University’s School of Law and Women's Law Caucus Woman of the Year Award<ref name=":2" />. In 2020, she received the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges' Presidents Award and was named as a Distinguished 400 Awardee by the 400 Years of African American History Commission<ref name=":2" />. That year she would also gain the Washington Women Lawyers Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst Passing the Torch Award<ref name=":2" />. In 2021 she would be “recognized as Public Official of the Year by The Evergreen State College's Master of Public Administration Program, and she also received Judge of the Year from The Western Region of the National Black Law Students Association”<ref name=":2" /> and in 2022 the University of Puget Sound would grant her an Honorary Law Degree from their law school as well as receiving the American Bar Association Stonewall Award<ref name=":2" />. In 2025 Whitner would receive the “Anshel Ma'asehi Award of Distinction from the Cardozo Society of Washington State.”<ref name=":2" />
== Personal life == She is the first African-American, LGBTQ judge in Washington<ref name=":0" /> and second African-American member of the Washington Supreme Court after Charles Z. Smith, as well as the fourth immigrant-born justice in the state<ref>{{Cite web |title=Washington State Courts Washington Courts |url=https://www.courts.wa.gov/index.cfm?fa=home.sub&org=mjc&layout=2&page=bioWhitener. |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=www.courts.wa.gov}}</ref> She is disabled, having a hereditary degenerative back condition that she had reconstructive back surgery for in 2023<ref>{{Cite news |last=Goldstein-Street |first=Jake |date=2025-09-15 |title=The quest to make WA’s legal system more accessible for people with disabilities • Washington State Standard |url=https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/09/15/the-quest-to-make-was-legal-system-more-accessible-for-people-with-disabilities/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251128021234/https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/09/15/the-quest-to-make-was-legal-system-more-accessible-for-people-with-disabilities/ |archive-date=2025-11-28 |access-date=2026-05-29 |work=Washington State Standard |language=en-US}}</ref>.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/grace-helen-whitener-washington-supreme-court.html|title=Washington State Now Has the Most Diverse Supreme Court In History| author-link=Mark Joseph Stern |last=Stern|first=Mark Joseph|date=2020-04-17|website=Slate Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-04-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theappeal.org/politicalreport/washington-new-justice-whitener/|title=A New Supreme Court Justice Could Swing Criminal Justice Decisions in Washington|website=The Appeal Political Report|language=en|access-date=2020-04-23}}</ref> Whitener is co-chair of the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission.<ref name=":1" />
Whitner is married to Lynn Rainey, a fellow graduate of the Seattle University School of Law and an LGBTQ activist.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://law.seattleu.edu/newsroom/2019-news/judge-helen-whitener-98-named-woman-of-the-year|title=Judge Helen Whitener '98 named Woman of the Year : Seattle University School of Law : Seattle Washington|website=law.seattleu.edu|access-date=2020-04-14|archive-date=July 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730195918/https://law.seattleu.edu/newsroom/2019-news/judge-helen-whitener-98-named-woman-of-the-year|url-status=dead}}</ref> Rainy was a part of the U.S. Army medical Service until 2004<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Lynn Rainey |url=https://www.blackwomenrise.net/lynn-rainey.html |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=www.blackwomenrise.net}}</ref> where she would go on to obtain her legal degree from Seattle University a few years later in 2007<ref name=":4" />.
== See also == * List of African-American jurists * List of LGBT jurists in the United States * List of LGBT state supreme court justices in the United States * List of first women lawyers and judges in Washington
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == *[https://www.judgehelenwhitener.com/about_g_helen Campaign biography]
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Charles K. Wiggins}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Justice of the Washington Supreme Court}}|years=2020–present}} {{s-inc}} {{s-end}} {{Statewide political officials of Washington}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitener, Helen}} Category:1960s births Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:Living people Category:21st-century American judges Category:21st-century American women judges Category:21st-century African-American lawyers Category:21st-century African-American women Category:21st-century Trinidad and Tobago LGBTQ people Category:21st-century Trinidad and Tobago lawyers Category:21st-century Trinidad and Tobago women Category:African-American judges Category:African-American LGBTQ people Category:American prosecutors Category:American women lawyers Category:Baruch College alumni Category:Justices of the Washington Supreme Court Category:LGBTQ appointed officials in the United States Category:LGBTQ judges Category:American LGBTQ lawyers Category:LGBTQ people from Washington (state) Category:Public defenders Category:Seattle University School of Law alumni Category:Superior court judges in the United States Category:Washington (state) lawyers Category:Washington (state) state court judges