Colorado judge resigns after repeated use of the N-word: report
According to The Denver Post, Arapahoe County District Court Judge Natalie Chase is stepping down from her position following censure by the Colorado Supreme Court for repeated use of a racial slur.
"The Colorado Supreme Court on Friday censured 18th Judicial District Court Judge Natalie Chase and said in an order she failed 'to maintain the high standards of judicial conduct required of a judge.' Chase agreed to resign next month and did not dispute the facts of the six incidents outlined in the court's order," reported Elise Schmelzer. "Public censure of a Colorado judge is extremely rare and most disciplinary proceedings are hidden from the taxpayers who pay judges' salaries. Although more than 400 judges are working in the state at any given time, only four judges were publicly censured between 2010 and 2020."
"Chase in late January or early February of 2020 drove two lower-level court employees to a training in Pueblo," said the report. "During the drive, Chase asked one of the other employees, who is Black, why Black people can use the N-word and white people cannot along with other questions about the slur, according to the Supreme Court's order. Chase, who is white, used the full word several times during the conversation and made the employee, who was trapped in the car and couldn't leave, feel uncomfortable, hurt and angry."
The report also noted that Chase belittled the Black Lives Matter movement from the bench to a court employee during the George Floyd protests, and said she would boycott the Super Bowl over players taking a knee while wearing her robes, called another judge a "derogatory term" while speaking to court employees, and "directed her law clerk to edit personal emails for her and to research a personal legal matter not connected to her work."
In her resignation, Chase apologized for the misconduct, saying that she never intended "racial animus."
Watch a report on the incident below:
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