OLYMPIA, WA – Gov. Bob Ferguson has appointed former subordinate and AGO Senior Assistant Attorney General Colleen Melody to the Washington Supreme Court to fill a vacancy left by Justice Mary Yu, who announced she would be stepping down at the end of the year.

“I had a chance to work  very, very closely with her for a very long period of time,” Ferguson said at Monday’s press conference announcing the appointment. “Anyone who has had any interaction with Colleen in a legal setting would all agree that she has a brilliant legal mind. There’s is no doubt about that. She is in my view also a creative problem-solver and a fearless defender of our democracy.”

Since 2015, Melody has worked as the chief of the AGO’s Wing Luke Civil Rights Division and was directly involved in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington by the AGO against President Donald Trump’s first travel ban in 2017. This year, Melody was involved in the AGO’s lawsuit against Trump’s executive order regarding birthright citizenship.

Melody received the Steward of Justice Award in 2018, which “recognizes employees who make an extraordinary difference in the lives of others, both personally and professionally.”

Prior to her work at the AGO, she served as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division between 2008-2012.

In a statement, Attorney General Nick Brown wrote that “Colleen is a brilliant attorney, the founding division director of the Wing Luke Civil Rights Division, and an inspirational leader to many at the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. Our loss is Washington state’s gain. There’s no place in Washington where Colleen could be more influential than on our highest court.”

Yu has been on the Washington State Supreme Court since 2014. Before that, she was a King County Superior Court judge.