Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst to retire from State Supreme Court

Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst will retire from the Washington State Supreme Court in January, feeling, in her words, that it was "time to focus on my health."

The justice, first elected in 2002, has been battling cancer. "I want to assure you that I am not leaving to die, but to focus on my health and to enjoy time with Bob, my family and friends," she wrote in a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee.

Fairhurst is leaving before her term expires at the end of 2020. Inslee will appoint a replacement, and the position will be one of three high court seats up before the voters next year.

The last such occasion saw the resignation of conservative Justice Jim Johnson, and Inslee's appointment of King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu to take his place. Yu had performed the state's first same-sex marriage on the December 2012 night that marriage equality became legal in Washington.

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