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The sleeve on Jeanette Dalton’s black robe, the garment that blots out all but the face and hands of the person sitting above everyone else in a courtroom, eventually gave her away. Dalton, who declined to run for re-election and retired in January from the Kitsap County Superior Court bench after 12 years, had relied on the sleeve to conceal a tattoo when she raised her right hand to administer the oath in court. “I would take great pains to cover that up,” Dalton, 66, said. “I didn’t want people distracted by that. ‘Jeez, is she a biker?’” After time, the facing in the sleeve started to wear, and as it wore it let slip glimpses of her arm tattoo, the Sanskrit script of the word “ahimsa,” Gandhi’s theory of non-violence, superimposed over a stylized dove holding an olive branch. After a trial, while visiting with jurors and thanking them for their service, the forewoman had a question: “Could we see your tattoo?” ....