A federal judge is facing backlash from colleagues after opening a dissent in a recent Washington state case by noting that "this is a case about swinging d-cks."

The big picture: While the case focused on gender identity and transgender rights within a women-only spa in the Seattle area, Ninth Circuit court Judge Lawrence VanDyke's words have sparked a separate controversy in judicial circles.

Driving the news: More than two dozen Ninth Circuit judges rebuked VanDyke after his comment appeared in a court ruling last week declining to rehear the case involving Olympus Spa, which has locations in Lynnwood and Tacoma.

• Judge M. Margaret McKeown called the dissent's language "vulgar barroom talk" and wrote that courts are meant to resolve disputes "in a dignified and civil manner."
• Bloomberg Law described the dissent as "unusually crass" for a federal appellate opinion.

In the same dissent, VanDyke dismissed criticism of his language.

• "My distressed colleagues appear to have the fastidious sensibilities of a Victorian nun when it comes to mere unpleasant words," he wrote.
• He argued Washington had wrongly applied its anti-discrimination law to force a religiously owned spa to admit transgender women who have not had gender confirmation surgery.

Catch up quick: The case stems from a 2020 complaint by a transgender woman who was denied entry to Olympus Spa because she had not undergone gender confirmation surgery.

• Washington's Human Rights Commission ruled the policy violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination, which bars discrimination in public accommodations based on sexual orientation — a category state law defines to include gender identity.
• The spa later settled with the state civil rights agency and agreed to remove "biological women" language from its policy.

State of play: The Christian-owned spa sued state officials in federal court in 2022, arguing enforcement of the law violated its First Amendment rights to free speech, association and religion.

• A federal district court judge dismissed the suit, ruling the law is a neutral anti-discrimination statute regulating business conduct.
• A Ninth Circuit panel upheld that ruling in a 2–1 decision last year.

What's next: Olympus Spa's lead attorney Kevin Snider of the Pacific Justice Institute told Axios the case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Hundreds of western U.S. counties— including Island County in Washington, just had their warmest winters on record — per the latest data.

Why it matters: The widespread record-setting illustrates the unusually high temperatures across much of the western U.S. for the past few months.

• It's been a brutally warm winter for much of the West and Southwest, with implications ranging from bad ski and snowboard seasons to concerns about snowpack, water supplies and wildfires in the months ahead.

By the numbers: More than 420 counties had their warmest December-February periods on record.

• The average high temperature over those three months in Island County, which includes Whidbey and Camano islands, was 44.4° F — or 4.5° over the 1901-2000 mean of 39.9°F
• In King County, the average high this winter was 39.8°, versus 35.3°F over the same baseline period.
• That's according to NOAA data covering the last 131 years.

Zoom out: Washington tied its fourth-warmest winter on record with an average temperature of 36.2°, about 5.4°F warmer than the 20th-century average, according to NOAA.

Between the lines: "A ridge of high pressure has dominated the western half of the country, allowing for consistent warmer weather to prevail as well as causing the jet stream to steer storms further north, limiting snowfall for the mountains," per Weather.com.

What's next: More records will likely be set this week as an unusual March heat dome blankets the Western U.S., with temperatures expected to reach the triple digits in some places.

🏀 After years of speculation about the Sonics' return, the NBA is expected to vote later this month on whether to start the expansion process that could bring a team to Seattle by 2028-29. (KOMO News)

🤖 Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has paused the city's planned rollout of Microsoft Copilot for employees as her administration reviews the risks and implications of wider AI use. (Seattle Times)

🥅 The Seattle Reign opened the National Women's Soccer League season with a 2-1 win over the Orlando Pride, with goals from Jess Fishlock and Brittany Ratcliffe in a match that was interrupted for hours by rain. (Sounder at Heart)

Almost all of you were right when you guessed we were on the north shore of Montlake Cut a couple weeks ago when we asked where we were.

This is just south of the University of Washington and UW Medical Center, so plenty of readers have memories tied to the area.

• Ellen P. tells us she took care of the space for years as a UW gardener and "it was a lovely place to work."
• "I've always enjoyed the view from the water here — the UW student graffiti on the cut wall is so well done," wrote Andrew B.
• David R. imagined what he might have been thinking in the moment: "Probably either I'm late for work or late for class. However, since it looks later in the day, more likely: 'How great is this!'"