Constitutional rights are what first drove Sheryl Gordon McCloud to pursue law as a young woman during the ’70s.

So when Washington Supreme Court Justice Tom Chambers announced he would be retiring at the end of 2012, it seemed like the logical next step for her to announce she would be running to take over his seat.

McCloud has been doing appellate work for more than 24 years and in doing so, she has handled cases before the high court for much of her career. But starting Jan. 14, she will be taking a seat on the other side of the bench as a state Supreme Court justice.

“It’s a change from being an advocate to hearing both sides equally,” McCloud said.

On the Supreme Court, McCloud will be hearing cases and appellate cases that question the U.S. Constitution and federal laws.

As a lawyer who first served as a public defender and now works from her own Seattle-based law firm, McCloud has raised issues from privacy rights and women’s rights to workplace rights and the First Amendment. It is protecting the most basic of individual rights and upholding the Constitution that she looks forward to the most by becoming a state Supreme Court justice.

“I never thought of running a campaign because I never saw myself as a politician,” says McCloud.

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