Charles Z. Smith (February 23, 1927 – August 28, 2016) was an American judge who served as a Washington State Supreme Court Justice from 1988 to 2002.

When Florida state regents fired Gray for refusing to ban black students from all-white colleges, he moved with his family and Smith to Philadelphia.

The same year, Smith visited his mother in Seattle and had a chance to show his transcript to the associate dean of University of Washington School of Law.

Robert F. Kennedy learned of Smith and hired him as a special assistant to the United States Attorney General in 1961.

Smith helped the Attorney General investigate fraud related to the Central States Teamsters Pension Fund.

In 1965, Smith returned to Washington and became the state's first African American judge when he was appointed to the Seattle Municipal Court.

Governor Dan Evans appointed Smith to the King County Superior Court bench in 1966.

[2] While he was a justice, he was a chair on the American Bar Association Task Force on Minorities in the Judiciary, Judicial Division.

[3][5] Smith was a civil rights advocate who worked to increase the number of women and people of color in the legal profession.

Smith provided legal advice to redress activists in the 1970s and 1980s, and became a board member of the Seattle Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.