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- The Supreme Court of Colorado released an order censuring Judge Natalie T. Chase on Friday.
- She used the N-word and said "all lives matter" in conversations with Black colleagues, the order said.
- She has since resigned, the order said.
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A white Colorado judge has resigned after making colleagues uncomfortable with her comments on race, including repeatedly using the N-word during a car ride with a Black coworker.
The behavior or Natalie T. Chase, a judge in the Arapahoe County District Court, was detailed in a order released by the Supreme Court of Colorado on Friday.
-NewsOne (@newsone) April 19, 2021
Among the examples outlined in the order was a conversation Chase had while driving her former law clerk and a family court facilitator from an event in Pueblo in late January or early February 2020.
During the car ride, Chase asked the facilitator, who is Black, "questions about why Black people can use the N-word but not white people, and whether it was different if the N-word is said with an 'er' or an 'a' at the end of the word," the order said.
"During the conversation, Judge Chase used the full N-word a number of times," and the facilitator explained that it felt "like a stab through my heart each time," according to the order.
The facilitator said she "was uncomfortable because she could not leave the car or the conversation" and "felt angry and hurt by the conversation." She said she "did not feel free to express her discomfort or emotions due to fear of retaliation by Judge Chase."
Chase also made comments critical of the Black Lives Matter movement during two separate incidents in court, in front of Black court workers.
In early February 2020, when someone brought up the subject of the Super Bowl, Chase - while sitting on the bench and wearing her robe - said she "would be 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," the order said.
On the Monday after the police killing of George Floyd, Chase inserted herself into a conversation two Black court employees were having about the racial-justice protests. Chase was again wearing her robe and sitting on the bench when she "told the employees some of her opinions regarding racial justice issues."
When one of the employees "tried to explain the Black Lives Matter movement" to her, Chase "stated that she believes all lives matter."
Chase's record of having law clerks do personal tasks for her, and an incident in which she called a fellow judge a "f------ b----," were also noted in the Colorado Supreme Court order.
Chase agreed with the facts spelled out in the document, but told the commission she "did not intend any racial animus."
Nonetheless, she agreed that she "undermined confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary" with her opinions on criminal justice, police brutality, and race and racial bias, the filing said.
The Colorado Supreme Court noted that Chase "expressed remorse" and "apologized" for her conduct.
The Colorado Comission of Judicial Discipline recommended that the court censure Chase and accept her resignation, and the court did so.
Chase's resignation as a judge in the Arapahoe County District Court will be effective 45 days from April 16, the court said, meaning May 31.
Chase was appointed to the judiciary in 2014 by Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat. Prior to that, she worked as a criminal defense, domestic relations, and estate planning attorney, according to Colorado Politics.
Chase did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.