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Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis

Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis has been a member of the Washington State Supreme Court since January 6, 2020 after being appointed the position by Governor Jay Inslee. Justice Montoya-Lewis is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Isleta and a descendant of the Pueblo of Laguna, two federally recognized tribes in New Mexico. At the time of her appointment, she became the second Native American to sit on a state supreme court anywhere in the country and the first in Washington state. After winning a contested election for a full six year term in 2020, she became the first Native American to win statewide office in Washington. She is also of Jewish descent. Prior to becoming an Associate Justice, she served as a Superior Court judge for Whatcom County for five years, where she heard criminal and civil trials and presided over the Whatcom County Therapeutic Drug Court. In the 15 years prior to her work on the Superior Court, she served as a tribal court judge for multiple tribes in the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest. She served as Chief Judge for the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, the Nooksack Indian Tribe, and the Lummi Nation. In addition to her work as a tribal court judge, she was a tenured Associate Professor at Western Washington University's Fairhaven College where she taught law-related courses and courses on cultural identity development. She has continued to use her teaching skills as a jurist, teaching a wide variety of audiences including judges, social workers, lawyers, and advocates on how our biases impact decisions, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and best practices in child welfare and domestic violence cases. Justice Montoya-Lewis graduated with her BA degree from the University of New Mexico in 1992 and completed her law degree and Master of Social Work degree at the University of Washington in 1995 and 1996 respectively. She remains deeply committed to mentorship and ensuring that she is not just the first Native person to sit on this court, but one of many to come.


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