Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
Petra Jimenez Maes on Wednesday was named the first Hispanic woman to become chief justice of a state’s highest court.
Maes, a 4-year veteran of New Mexico’s Supreme Court, was elected by her colleagues. She will be sworn in Friday.
“It’s just such an honor for me, and also for all of New Mexicans and especially the Hispanic women,” Maes said after a speech in Albuquerque.
In New Mexico, the five elected justices select a chief every two years. Typically they rotate the job, giving it to the most senior justice who has not yet held it; this year that was Maes.
Maes, 55, is the third woman to serve on the state Supreme Court, and the second female chief justice. The first, Pamela Minzner, was chosen in 1999.
