Window Rock, Ariz. • A retired judge has been sworn in as the acting chief justice for the Navajo Nation.
Tribal officials announced Tuesday that Thomas Holgate was given the oath of office to assume duties during a swearing-in ceremony in Window Rock.
He replaces Allen Sloan, who had been serving as acting chief justice since July 2015 on the largest American Indian reservation in the country.
Sloan retired at the end of last month.
The Navajo Nation Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and two associate justices.
Holgate was appointed a judge in 1997 by then-tribal president Albert Hale and retired in 2012.
He served as a judge at the Shiprock and Window Rock judicial districts.
The Navajo Nation spans more than 27,000 acres in parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.