During the recent special presidential election a vocal group of dissenters promised to see Chief Justice Herb Yazzie booted from office.

The group – the Voters Rights Coalition – not only managed to see Yazzie out of his office – but all of the other justices, too!

That’s because the Judicial Branch building was closed per order of the Navajo Occupational Safety and Health Administration on June 18.

Herb Yazzie

The controversial Chief Justice Yazzie officially retired effective May 15.

NOSHA cited the Damon Building – where the administrative offices of the courts, the Office of the Chief Justice and Central Office of Probation and Parole Services are located – for “poor indoor air quality.”

The judicial office is the third tribal office building to be shuttered in the past two years.

The Damon Building will remain closed until NOSHA says otherwise.

In the meantime, the Office of the Chief Justice will be relocated to the Supreme Court Building.

Judicial Branch Fiscal Services and Human Resources are temporarily moved to the Department of Information Technology. The Office of Special Projects is temporarily relocated to a modular building east of Quality Inn.

Both Administration Buildings were ordered closed in 2013, after they were found to contain mold. Administration Building 1 was completely renovated and reopened in January. Administration Building 2 remains closed.

As for Yazzie, he had served as the Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation since April 21, 2005. He has also served as the Chief Legislative Counsel and as the Attorney General in 1990 and from 1993 to 1998.

He is a 1975 graduate of Arizona State University College of Law and a member of the Utah State Bar and the Navajo Nation Bar Association. Yazzie is also a veteran of the U.S. Army.