Andrew Wright MD

Awesome new song heard on KEXP today. youtu.be/KwmOeR9Vags?...

MUNGIA, J. (concurring)—I concur with the majority’s opinion.1 And yet I dissent. Not from the majority’s opinion, but I dissent from the racism embedded in the federal case law that applies to this dispute. FEDERAL INDIAN LAW IS A PRODUCT OF THE RACIST BELIEFS ENDEMIC IN OUR SOCIETY AND OUR LEGAL SYSTEM While it is certainly necessary to follow federal case law on issues involving Native American tribes and their members, at the same time it is important to call out that the very foundations of those opinions were based on racism and white supremacy. By doing this, readers of our opinions will have no doubt that the current court disavows, and condemns, those racist sentiments, beliefs, and statements.

Since the founding of our country, the federal government has characterized Native Americans as “savages”: They were “uncivilized.” They had little claim to the land upon which they lived. At times, the federal government attempted to eradicate Native Americans through genocidal policies. At other times, the federal government employed ethnic cleansing by forcibly removing children from their parents’ homes to strip them from their culture, their language, and their beings.2 Federal Indian case law arises from those racist underpinnings. The majority correctly cites to Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1, 8 L. Ed. 25 (1831), which is one of the foundational cases involving tribal sovereignty. That opinion is rife with racist attitudes toward Native Americans. Chief Justice John Marshall, writing for the majority, describes a tribe’s relationship to the federal government as one of “ward to his guardian.” Id. at 17. In effect, the opinion presents tribal members as children, and the federal government as the adult. That theme would follow in later opinions by the United States Supreme Court—as would the theme of white supremacy. Cherokee Nation began with the premise that Native American tribes, once strong and powerful, were no match for the white race and so found themselves “gradually sinking beneath our superior policy, our arts and our arms.” Id. at 15. The white man was considered the teacher, the Native Americans the pupils:

Meanwhile they are in a state of pupilage. Their relation to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian. Id. at 17. This characterization of superior to inferior, teacher to student, guardian to ward, was repeated in later United States Supreme Court opinions. In Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, 187 U.S. 553, 23 S. Ct. 216, 47 L. Ed. 299 (1903), often characterized as the “American Indian Dred Scott,” 3 the Court used that rationale to justify ruling that the United States could break its treaties with Native American tribes. These Indian tribes are the wards of the nation. They are communities dependent on the United States. Dependent largely for their daily food. Dependent for their political rights. . . . From their very weakness and helplessness . . . there arises the duty of protection, and with it the power. Id. at 567 (quoting United States v. Kagama, 118 U.S. 375, 383-84, 6 S. Ct. 1109, 30 L. Ed. 228 (1886)). Our court also carries the shame of denigrating Native Americans by using that same characterization: “The Indian was a child, and a dangerous child, of nature, to be both protected and restrained.” State v. Towessnute, 89 Wash. 478, 482, 154 P. 805 (1916), judgment vacated and opinion repudiated by 197 Wn.2d 574, 486 P.3d 111 (2020). 3 See A

Returning to Cherokee Nation, Justice William Johnson’s separate opinion was less tempered in how he considered the various Native American tribes: I cannot but think that there are strong reasons for doubting the applicability of the epithet state, to a people so low in the grade of organized society as our Indian tribes most generally are. Cherokee Nation, 30 U.S. at 21. Native Americans were not to be treated as “equals to equals” but, instead, the United States was the conqueror and Native Americans the conquered. Id. at 23. In discussing Native Americans, Justice Johnson employed another racist trope used by judges both before and after him: Native Americans were uncivilized savages. [W]e have extended to them the means and inducement to become agricultural and civilized. . . . Independently of the general influence of humanity, these people were restless, warlike, and signally cruel. . . . . But I think it very clear that the constitution neither speaks of them as states or foreign states, but as just what they were, Indian tribes . . . which the law of nations would regard as nothing more than wandering hordes, held together only by ties of blood and habit, and having neither laws or government, beyond what is required in a savage state. Id. at 23, 27-28. This same characterization was used by Justice Stanley Matthews in Ex parte KanGi-Shun-Ca (otherwise known as Crow Dog), 109 U.S. 556, 3 S. Ct. 396, 27 L. Ed. 1030 (1883). Justice Matthews described Native Americans as leading a savage life.

Washington Supreme Court Justice Mungia has an extraordinary opinion condemning "the underlying racism and prejudices that are woven into the very fabric" of SCOTUS opinions about Native people.

"We must clearly, loudly, and unequivocally state that was wrong.”
www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf...

No surprises here

Yup, this tracks. Still healthier than general population but the life of a surgeon definitely takes its toll

Reminder about SAGES Webinar on Posture, Prehab, Performance: Mastering Surgical Ergonomics on September 30. us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

New SAGES Guideline: Intraoperative Imaging of the Common Bile Duct: A Systematic Review www.sages.org/publications...

No parallels there. None at all.

How Are You Supposed To Get The COVID Vaccine Now? An Explainer | Defector As the muggy malaise of summer winds down, you might find yourself interested in taking advantage of one of several safe and proven vaccines to help protect you from the inevitable brumal surge of res...

We took the paywall down on this one. defector.com/how-the-fuck...

I’m officially old now

Epic

For any of my bluesky friends who are surgeons, please consider filling out this survey on ergonomics in the operating room. Thanks so much!

uwashington.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Surgery residents in simulation lab

Bowel anastomosis lab with our UW Surgery residents. Old school hand-sewn double layer.

Apply for the Career Development Award today! Applications close October 1st, 2025. To learn more and apply, visit: www.sages.org/research/car...

3 weeks to the 2025 UW Surgical Ethics Symposium, registration now open! Join us for a fantastic lineup of panelists, free for trainees and students. In person or virtual.

secure.touchnet.net/C20410_ustor...

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

1. Federal funding for research promotes tech, biomedical, and scientific discovery in the US, and provides training for the sci/tech workforce that has brought immeasurable wealth to the US over the past 75 years.

Today's executive order includes a provision that will obliterate both functions.

playlist showing music by Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne.

If anyone needs an Ozzy fix today, I recommend checking out the livestream at KEXP.org.

Proud moment. #3 on the Star Wars pinball leaderboard

Register now for the Society of Surgical Ergonomics 2025 Annual Symposium! events.zoom.us/ev/Aqa8Xt76W...

These “peer to peer” conversations almost always go this way, and they never actually have the authority to approve care. Frustrating waste of my time on a weekly basis. Our system is broken.

Only time it’s really overcrowded is when sounders/mariners/seahawks games get out and everyone crams on, but even then crowds are polite

Always a bit busy, but shouldn’t be too bad. Earlier on the line you get on the train, the better odds of getting a seat instead of having to stand. I take light rail every day to and from work, never any real issues

Park and take light rail to Westlake. Convention center only a few blocks away

Congrats!

PSG scared shitless of the Sounders, need to send basically everybody to have a chance

Good turnout for a little town on Whidbey Island! #NoKings

Several very good boys in the dark blue Salish Sea kit at Lumen Field before a recent match

Footy (soccer) fans! Were you planning to travel to the USA for one or more of the Club World Cup games, but decided against it due to the current political situation? (Fear of immigration police, the trade wars, etc?) I want to hear from you for a thing. Sounders for exposure

Proud Williams Alum here

My wife sews and knits. I build furniture. Not sure which hobby is more expensive, but while nice walnut is pricey, her yarn stash is way bigger than my wood pile.

So sad to see this. A fantastic person and surgeon who advocated for involvement of patients in healthcare research. He will be sorely missed.

Bin of legos

When the bin of Legos* come out you know it must be time for some team training @sages ADOPT style

* yes I know these are technically Duplos