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Purple Hyacinth · 02-05-2021, 01:12 AM

Nat Resigns as Associate Justice

By Purple Hyacinth

Nat resigned as Associate Justice on February 5, citing RL workload. They have been an Associate Justice since December 2019. During their time as an Associate Justice, they were the Presiding Justice on several cases, including HCLQ 2003 Legality of Closed Local Council Elections. This particular case ruled that, under the law as written at the time, the Native WA restriction on polls in Local Council elections was illegal. The ruling sparked a lot of Assembly discussion over how to fix the issue, and ultimately a proposal that allowed the Local Council to legally pass a law that codified the Native WA restriction was passed.

Nat has been praised for their work on the Court, not just in ruling on cases but other work as well. For example, fellow Associate Justice Belschaft stated that “Nat has been an excellent justice, and took it upon himself to do a lot of the admin work around stuff like Sunshine Act compliance”.

Nat’s resignation was not unexpected--in December, they had announced their intention to retire. This meant that the Cabinet had already found a nominee to replace Nat as Associate Justice: Roavin. They have been described as highly qualified for the position. However, the Assembly must approve of Roavin’s nomination before they can become a Justice, and the vote has not begun yet.