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20 unusual facts about Michigan Supreme Court


Abdumuqit Vohidov

Bridget McCormack, a candidate for a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court helped defend Vohitov, and in 2012 the "Judicial Crisis Network broadcast an attack ad against her, criticizing her for "freeing a terrorist".

Bert D. Chandler

Bert D. Chandler (1869–1947) was a member of the Michigan Supreme Court from 1937-1943.

Cassopolis, Michigan

Among his accomplishments, Archer went on to become an attorney, Michigan Supreme Court Justice, two-term mayor of Detroit, and President of the American Bar Association.

Frank J. Kelley

Kelley was appointed as Attorney General in 1961 by Governor John Swainson to fill a vacancy left when Paul L. Adams became a Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.

Gin'nnah Muhammad

In 2009 Gin'nnah Muhammad went on to the Michigan Supreme Court and spoke to the panel of judges with her veil on.

Helene White

All of the Republicans on the committee, except Orrin Hatch, the chairman of the committee during the Clinton administration, voted against her purportedly on the grounds that she had not provided the committee with copies of her unpublished judicial opinions that were later reversed by the Michigan Supreme Court.

Henry M. Butzel

Henry M. Butzel (1871–1963) was a member of the Michigan Supreme Court from 1929 until 1935.

Joseph T. Copeland

Joseph Tarr Copeland, already a distinguished former legislator and Michigan Supreme Court Justice, sold his 136-acre estate in section 32 of Pontiac Township, Michigan in 1858.

Naturally, Copeland was elected Circuit Judge and concurrently became the 14th Michigan Supreme Court Justice.

Joseph Tarr Copeland (May 6, 1813 – May 6, 1893) was a Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court from 1852 until 1857, as well as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Kevin J. Greene

After completing his Marine Corps service with honors, he received his B.A. at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, and his J.D. at Yale Law School and then clerked for James H. Brickley of the Michigan Supreme Court.

Malice Green

In March 2003 this conviction was overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals, but in September 2003, the Michigan Supreme Court upheld that conviction.

On July 31, 1997, the Michigan Supreme Court granted a new trial for Walter Budzyn, mostly on the grounds of the showing of Malcolm X. Budzyn was immediately released from prison.

Marilyn Jean Kelly

In 1996, during her second term on the appellate court, Marilyn Jean Kelly won election to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Mrs. Kelly is serving her second term in office as a Justice on the Michigan Supreme Court.

Michigan Government Television

In October 1996, MGTV made Michigan only the second state to air oral arguments from the state's Supreme Court.

Random checkpoint

The Michigan Supreme Court had found sobriety roadblocks to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Steven P. Croley

Croley is married to Bridget Mary McCormack, a professor of law and associate dean of clinical affairs at the University of Michigan Law School who was elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in 2012.

Suellyn Scarnecchia

She was a technical adviser on the Michigan Supreme Court Task Forces on Gender and Race Bias in the Courts and was board president of the Battle Creek Area Organization Against Domestic Violence, which she helped establish.

Thomas E. Brennan

Thomas E. Brennan (born May 27, 1929) is the founder of Thomas M. Cooley Law School, the 81st Justice and Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, an attorney, and former jurist and educator in the U.S. state of Michigan.


D. Augustus Straker

He later moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he became the first black lawyer to appear before the Michigan Supreme Court.

David Viviano

David Viviano is a Justice on the Michigan Supreme Court, having been appointed by Governor Rick Snyder on February 28, 2013 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Justice Diane Hathaway.

James A. Van Dyke

He began a practice with future Michigan Supreme Court justice Charles W. Whipple in 1835, later partnering with, in turn, E. B. Harrington and H. H. Emmons, before leaving private practice in 1852 to become the attorney for the Michigan Central Railroad.

Lawrence Lindemer

On June 2, 1975, Lindemer was appointed by Michigan Governor William G. Milliken to the Michigan Supreme Court to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Thomas M. Kavanagh.

Otis M. Smith

Otis M. Smith (1922–1994) was the first African American justice on the Michigan Supreme Court and the General Counsel for General Motors.

Thomas Benton Cooley

While Cooley was a boy, his father served variously as a professor and dean of the University of Michigan Law School, an Associate Justice and Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, and as the first chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission.