Legal Question in Administrative Law in Washington

Re: Federal judges

No. Raising taxes is a power reserved to the legislative branch. If a judge did this, it would violate the separation of powers doctrine. Judges can order damages, but they cannot raise taxes.

Re: Federal judges

Great question but I would guess what happened is that the federal court ruled that the state must comply with a federal constitutional non-discrimination provision and the only way for a state to comply is by raising taxes. If the federal government ordered a state to raise taxes to comply with a federal law, it would be a state's rights question.

Re: Federal judges

Generally no, however, a judge could declare a local government's policy unconstitutional and "force" the local government to take an alternate course of action, including raising taxes.