This article originally appeared in the Washington State Standard.
Washington state Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu will retire from the bench at the end of this year.
Yu, appointed in 2014, told fellow justices Thursday afternoon after informing Gov. Bob Ferguson in a letter last week.
Ferguson will name a new justice, his first appointment to the state Supreme Court. An election will be held next year to complete Yu’s term, which runs through Dec. 31, 2028.
“It is not an easy decision to step away,” she wrote in the letter. “I have had the good fortune of serving the people of our great state as a judge for 25 years and have cherished every single moment of such service.”
Yu highlighted the time she’s spent “mentoring and teaching those younger than me to embrace life, lead, and to make a difference.”
“They cherish the rule of law, and they will defend and protect the courts that I love so deeply,” she said.
Chief Justice Debra Stephens called Yu “a dynamic leader,” praising her work as a mentor of new lawyers and a champion of racial justice through her leadership on the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission.
“She has served the people of Washington with passion, intellect and boundless energy,” Stephens said in a statement.
Ferguson said in a statement that during her time on the bench, Yu has demonstrated her commitment to respect, dignity and fairness for all.”
“Her legacy is in bending Washington state further toward justice,” he said.
Trailblazing career
Yu was raised in Bridgeport, a South Side neighborhood in Chicago, by immigrant parents. Her mother came from Mexico and her father from China. She is the first in her family to graduate from college, according to her official biography.
When Gov. Jay Inslee appointed her to the state Supreme Court on May 16, 2014, Yu became the first Asian, the first Latina and the first member of the LGBTQ+ community to serve on the court. She went on to win elections in 2014, 2016 and 2022.
Before reaching the state’s high court, the trailblazing Yu had etched her place into state history.
At midnight on Dec. 9, 2012, when same-sex couples could begin to legally marry in Washington state, several lined up outside a Seattle courtroom to have Yu, then a King County Superior Court judge, preside over their nuptials.
Sarah and Emily Cofer of Snohomish County were first up.
“Judge Yu was warm and welcoming. She presided over the ceremony with comfort and joy that made it feel like a personal event even in such a public setting,” Sarah Cofer recounted in a biography of Yu in the “Love, Equally” exhibit marking the history of marriage equality in Washington.
Yu worked more than 14 years as a trial court judge in King County Superior Court after serving as deputy chief of staff to former King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng.
In her letter to Ferguson, Yu said personal events over the past year “have shed a new light on how I might want to spend the next 25 years of my life.”
Yu, in a phone interview Thursday, said two events catalyzed her decision. Last year, an early detection of breast cancer led to two surgeries and she is now “completely healthy.” Then, in March, Justice Susan Owens passed away at age 75, just three months after retiring from the bench.
“I thought, life just can’t end this way for me. I want to travel. I want to teach. I want to write,” she said. “Life is a precious gift.”
The Washington State Standard originally published this article on Sept. 11, 2025.
