OLYMPIA, Wash. — Governor Inslee appointed a Whatcom County Superior Court judge to the state Supreme Court.
Judge Raquel Montoya-Lewis will be the first Native American justice on the state’s high court.
Inslee appointed Judge Montoya-Lewis to take the place of retiring Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst, who is stepping down while she undergoes treatment for cancer.
She’ll serve through the end of 2020.
Inslee first appointed Judge Montoya-Lewis to the Whatcom Superior Court in 2014 and she has since been elected to the position.
She’s a member of the Laguna Pueblo and Pueblo of Isleta tribes of New Mexico.