Natalie Chase
Judge Natalie T. Chase of Arapahoe County, Colorado has agreed to resign her position after receiving a public censure. According to the stipulated facts, Chase used the N-word multiple times in a conversation with court employees.
Chase reportedly had a conversation with two court employees in 2020 where she used the N-word repeatedly, asking why white people cannot use the term while Black people can. She also asked about the distinction between the word with an “er” and an “a.”
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One of the employees who was a part of the conversation is Black and said she wasn’t free to express her discomfort over Chase’s use of the N-word and said hearing the N-word from Chase was “like a stab through my heart each time.”
In addition to the whopping N-word-shaped elephant in the room, the judge admitted to the following, as reported by the ABA Journal:
• During a court break, while wearing her robe and on the bench, Chase stated that she would not be watching the Super Bowl because she objected to football players kneeling during the national anthem. Two Black employees were in the courtroom.
• On the morning after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, Chase told employees some of her opinions on racial justice issues. Chase was on the bench wearing her robe at the time. Chase asked one employee some questions about the Black Lives Matter movement and stated that she thinks all lives matter. She did say, however, that the conduct of the police officers should be investigated.
• After returning from a meeting with another judge, Chase called the judge “a ‘f- – -ing b- – – -.’”
• Chase asked her law clerk to do some legal research related to a personal family legal issue and asked her clerk to edit or rewrite her personal emails before she sent them out.
• After a medical episode at the courthouse, Chase declined an ambulance and then asked a court employee to drive her to the hospital and to stay with her there. The employee missed a half day of work as a result.
• Chase discussed personal or family matters with court employees “in a manner that was not dignified or courteous.”
According to the court’s order, Chase has apologized for her actions. Which, seems like the least she can do.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).