Racial slur leads to resignation for Colorado judge who also said ‘All Lives Matter’
A Colorado judge resigned Friday after the Colorado Supreme Court censured her for reportedly using racial slurs around employees.
Colorado District Judge Natalie T. Chase was censured based on a disciplinary review finding that she had “undermined confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary by expressing [her] views about criminal justice, police brutality, race and racial bias, specifically while wearing [her] robe in court staff work areas and from the bench.”
In early 2020, Chase drove two court employees to a training in Pueblo. Chase, who is white, was accused by a Black employee of asking why Black people can say the N-word but white people can’t, according to the court’s order. Chase used the slur several times in that incident, the document states.
“(The employee) has explained that Judge Chase’s use of the full N-word was ‘like a stab through my heart each time,’” the order states. “The (employee) did not feel free to express her discomfort or emotions due to fear of retaliation by Judge Chase.”
Chase apologized to the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline for her actions and said she didn’t intend “racial animus” by using the slur but acknowledged that it “has a significant negative effect on the public’s confidence in integrity of and respect for the judiciary,” The Denver Post reported. Chase didn’t dispute any of the facts laid out in the order.
Aside from that first 2020 incident, the court’s report detailed other events that led to the judge’s censure.
Chase told employees in February 2020 that she was boycotting the Super Bowl “because she objected to the NFL players who were kneeling during the National Anthem in protest of police brutality against Black people,” according to the commission. Two of the employees in the courtroom at the time were Black.
After George Floyd died in police custody in May 2020, Chase asked a Black employee questions about the Black Lives Matter protests and “stated that she believes all lives matter,” the order states. Chase also said in that conversation that the police officers involved in Floyd’s death should be investigated.
Chase is also accused of assigning a law clerk to do research for “personal family legal issues” and asking a clerk to proofread and rewrite personal emails. Chase also told a clerk that another judge was a “f------ b----,” according to court documents.
Judges are rarely censured publicly in Colorado. A Denver Post review in December found that four judges were publicly censured between 2010 and 2021 while 51 were privately disciplined, even though around 400 judges work for the state at a time.