DOVER, Del. (AP) - Delaware Supreme Court Justice Jack Jacobs says he is retiring from the bench later this year.
In a letter Monday to Gov. Jack Markell, the 71-year-old Jacobs said he plans to retire effective July 4, more than a year before his current term on the court is set to expire.
Jacobs was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2003 after serving 18 years as in Delaware's Court of Chancery.
Jacobs' retirement gives Markell a second chance to nominate a justice to the state's five-member Supreme Court.
Following the retirement last year of Chief Justice Myron Steele, Markell nominated former Chancellor Leo Strine Jr. as his replacement.