Appeals Court Judge Is Appointed To New Mexico Supreme Court
– Santa Fe New Mexican, Associated Press
Julie J. Vargas, a judge on the New Mexico Court of Appeals, has been appointed to serve on the state Supreme Court.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham s office announced the appointment Saturday.
Vargas, a Democrat, will succeed retired Justice Judith K. Nakamura, a Republican who was appointed by former Gov. Susana Martinez.
Vargas grew up in Albuquerque and got her law degree from the University of New Mexico.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports as an appellate court judge, Vargas has heard disputed decisions from lower courts around the state since 2016. Before that, she worked in private practice for more than 20 years, mostly in commercial and personal injury law.
Judge dismisses one of New Mexico s education lawsuits | Ap santafenewmexican.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from santafenewmexican.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By CEDAR ATTANASIODecember 19, 2020 GMT
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) State education officials will have one less lawsuit to contend after a suit representing a disabled student demanding in-person education services was dismissed Friday.
The lawsuit had also represented plaintiffs in rural counties where COVID-19 rates were high and the chance of resuming in-person schooling under state rules is very low.
U.S. District Judge James Browning ordered the Public Education Department to intervene in the case of a 13-year-old girl with special needs in Hobbs in October but did not certify a class-action lawsuit.
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Browning closed the case Friday, writing that the parties had agreed to dismiss it. In separate court documents, it was stated that the girls’ educational services were addressed and that part of the case was moot. Lawyers representing her had argued that students with emotional learning challenges needed to be in classrooms with other students, not just online.
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Now is the time. We cannot wait any longer to fulfill our state’s constitutional promise to provide a quality education to all students. Even as we are faced with the greatest health crisis in a century, fewer resources than we expected just a year ago, and the uncertainty of what lies ahead, we must act now to ensure that those resources that are available reach the students who need them most.
That is why the Public Education Department’s budget proposal for the upcoming school year includes continued efforts and innovative new ways to address the findings of the Martinez/Yazzie consolidated lawsuit while directing targeted additional funding to our state’s economically disadvantaged students.