Michigan Supreme Court

Michigan Supreme Court
200px
Established	1837
Country	Michigan United States
Location	Lansing
Composition method	Non-partisan election
Authorized by	Michigan Constitution
Decisions are appealed to	Supreme Court of the United States
Judge term length	8 years
Number of positions	7 (including chief justice)
Website	Michigan Supreme Court
Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court
Currently	Robert P. Young, Jr.
Since	2011
Lead position ends	2019
Jurist term ends	January 1, 2019

The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the state capital.

Operations

Each year, the Court receives approximately 2,000 new case filings. In most cases, the litigants seek review of Michigan Court of Appeals decisions, but the Supreme Court also hears cases of attorney and judicial misconduct, as well as a small number of matters over which the Court has original jurisdiction.

The Court issues a decision by order or opinion in all cases filed with it. Opinions and orders of the Court are reported in an official publication, Michigan Reports, as well as in Thomson West's privately published North Western Reporter.

Administration of the courts

The Court's other duties include overseeing the operations of all state trial courts. It is assisted in this endeavor by the State Court Administrative Office, one of its agencies. The Court's responsibilities also include a public comment process for changes to court rules, rules of evidence and other administrative matters. The court has broad superintending control power over all the state courts in Michigan.

Article 6, Section 30 of the Michigan Constitution creates the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission. This is an agency within the judiciary, having jurisdiction over allegations of judicial misconduct, misbehavior, and infirmity. The Supreme Court is given original, superintending control power, and appellate jurisdiction over the issue of penalty (up to and including removal of judges from office).

History

The Michigan Supreme Court can be dated back to the Supreme Court of Michigan Territory, established in 1805 with three justices. These justices served for indefinite terms. In 1823, the terms of justices were limited to four years.

The Michigan Supreme Court was the only court created by the first Michigan constitution in 1837. It had three members and each also oversaw one of the three judicial circuits, located in Detroit, Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo. The court needed a quorum of two to operate and members were appointed to seven-year terms by the governor with the consent of the senate. In 1838, Justice William A. Fletcher proposed a new plan for the court that the legislature approved. This increased the number of circuits to four and thus expanded the bench to four justices, but left the quorum at two.

In 1848, the court was expanded to five justices and the 1850 Michigan constitution provided that they be elected for six-year terms. In 1858, the Circuit Courts were split from the Supreme Court, so justices now only served on the Michigan Supreme Court and reduced its size to only four justices, one of whom was the Chief Justice.

In 1887, the court was expanded to five justices each serving for ten years. The court was again expanded in 1903 to eight justices serving terms of eight-years. In 1964, the new state constitution set the number of justices on the court at seven.

Composition

The Supreme Court consists of seven justices who are elected to eight-year terms. Candidates are nominated by political parties and are elected on a nonpartisan ballot. Supreme Court candidates must be qualified electors, licensed to practice law in Michigan for at least five years, and under 70 years of age at the time of election. Vacancies are filled by appointment of the Governor until the next general election. Every two years, the justices elect a member of the Court to serve as Chief Justice.

The Michigan Constitution allows vacancies on the state Supreme Court to be initially filled by the Governor, with that appointee serving until the next general election, at which time the elected winner is seated to fill the remaining portion of the vacated term.

Current Justices

Main article: List of Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court

Following the 2012 election, the court had a 4-3 conservative Republican majority, with Robert P. Young, Jr. serving as Chief Justice. The resignation of Justice Diane Hathaway in January 2013 created a 4-2 majority, and her position was filled by David Viviano, a Republican appointed by fellow Republican governor Rick Snyder creating a 5-2 majority. On October 1 2015, Snyder Appointed Joan Larsen to replace the retiring Mary Beth Kelly.

The current Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court are:

Name	Elected/Appointed	Term expires	Appointing Governor	Party Affiliation	Law School Attended
Chief Justice Robert P. Young, Jr.	1999	January 1, 2019	John Engler / Elected	Republican	Harvard University Law School
Stephen Markman	October 1, 1999	January 1, 2021	John Engler / Elected	Republican	University of Cincinnati College of Law
Joan Larsen	October 1, 2015	January 1, 2017	Rick Snyder / Appointed	Republican	Northwestern University Law School
Brian K. Zahra	2011	December 31, 2022	Rick Snyder / Elected	Republican	University of Detroit Mercy School of Law
Bridget Mary McCormack	January 1, 2013	December 31, 2021	Elected	Democrat	New York University Law School
David Viviano	February 27, 2013	December 31, 2016	Rick Snyder / Elected	Republican	University of Michigan Law School
Richard H. Bernstein	January 1, 2015	January 1, 2022	Elected	Democrat	Northwestern University

See also

• Judiciary of Michigan

Further reading

• Noto, Scott A. A Brief History of the Michigan Supreme Court. (Lansing: Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society, 2001).

External links

• Michigan Supreme Court
• Michigan Supreme Court Commentary
• Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society