Michigan Supreme Court majority up for grabs as 4 candidates seek 2 seats

• Two Democrats, two Republicans competing for two Michigan Supreme Court seats
• 2024 election will decide whether Democratic-nominated justices keep their majority or if Republican nominees take control
• Candidates on nonpartisan ballot include current and former lawmakers, a circuit court judge and a law professor

The power dynamic of the state’s highest court is on the line in the 2024 general election as four candidates with diverse legal and political backgrounds compete for two open Michigan Supreme Court seats.

State Supreme Court seats are technically nonpartisan, and candidates are not included in a straight-party ticket if a voter chooses to vote for all Democratic or all Republican candidates. 

But their elections are nonetheless a political process — nominees are chosen by delegates at state party conventions, and both major parties see the races as an opportunity to either retain or regain control of the court.

The seven-member bench is currently split 4-3, with Democratic nominees holding a one-justice majority. 

Justice David Viviano announced in March that he won’t seek reelection to Michigan’s highest court, leaving the Republican Party without an incumbent nominee for an open seat with an eight-year term. 

Related:

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• GOP Justice David Viviano leaving Michigan Supreme Court
• ACLU spending $2M on abortion rights ads in Michigan Supreme Court race

Voters will also decide whether Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, an appointee of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, remains on the bench to finish out the remainder of former Chief Justice Bridget McCormack’s term.

The court often has the final say on critical issues, including the constitutionality of state laws and the validity of ballot initiatives.

In recent years, justices have decided cases involving LGBTQ rights, the state's minimum wage and disputes over governmental authority during the COVID-19 pandemic, among other things. There are also several pending abortion-related lawsuits that could eventually reach the court.

Bolden and fellow Democratic nominee Kimberly Ann Thomas have a commanding financial advantage over Republican opponents William Patrick O’Grady and Rep. Andrew Fink, raising more than $1 million apiece with major donations from political action committees linked to labor unions, Democratic elected officials and the ACLU of Michigan.

Thomas, who is running against Fink for the full eight-year term, also picked up a notable endorsement from sitting Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement, a Republican-nominated justice initially appointed to the bench by former Gov. Rick Snyder. 

In a statement recently circulated by Thomas’ campaign, Clement said she worked with Thomas on the state’s bipartisan juvenile justice task force and has “every confidence that she will continue to work for collaborative and practical ways to improve our state courts.” 

Clement’s support of Thomas is “hugely significant,” said Eric Steinberg, president of the Michigan Association for Justice, a group representing trial lawyers that is backing the Democratic nominees. 

“She's a sitting Republican justice who endorsed a Democratic-nominated candidate over the Republican-endorsed candidate,” he continued. “She is taking a huge political risk in doing this, frankly, and this is really something that almost never happens nowadays.”

Snyder, the former governor, is at odds with his onetime Supreme Court pick. 

“The names you should remember are Fink and O'Grady,” he told attendees at a recent Auburn Hills campaign event, calling the Republican nominees “great assets” to ensure a better Supreme Court. 

Incumbent facing challenge from county judge

Bolden, a former lawmaker from Southfield, is one of two Democratic nominees and the only incumbent justice on the ticket this year, running for re-election to serve out a partial term expiring Jan. 1, 2029. 

She lost a statewide election for a full term in 2022 but was nominated by Whitmer to replace outgoing Justice McCormack that same month. She’s led the field in campaign fundraising, raising roughly $1.3 million for the race as of mid-September. 

Challenging Bolden is William Patrick O’Grady, a longtime Branch County circuit court judge and former state trooper who has presided over nearly 14,000 criminal and civil cases. 

Bolden is the first Black woman to serve on the Michigan Supreme Court, and she is the only current justice with legislative experience.

Prior to her court appointment, Bolden served two terms in the state Legislature as a Democrat, where she worked on criminal justice reforms and championed bills to protect survivors of sexual violence. 

She told Bridge Michigan in May that her background as a lawmaker has proven “very, very helpful” when considering cases that deal with legislative intent, adding that she takes the possible generational impact court decisions can have on Michigan residents seriously. 

“I believe that the Supreme Court should be reflective of the state of Michigan…because that's how you get to the right answer when we have a diversity of experiences at the table,” she said. “I hope that (voters) will see me as a key part of justice for generations for not only them, but for their children and their children's children.” 

O’Grady’s path to the bench was also nonlinear — he worked as a state trooper and field training officer before returning to law school and became a prosecutor before he was elected to serve as a judge. 

During a September League of Women Voters forum featuring three of the four Supreme Court candidates, O’Grady said responding to people “in their highest need” has informed his work to protect the rights of citizens and families from the bench. 

O’Grady has described himself as a “rule-of-law” justice who wouldn’t legislate from the bench. During the forum, he said he believes justices should “put politics at the door” when making decisions and be willing to hear out other viewpoints.

“Every human being has a bias, the question is whether you can put that bias aside and be able to answer these legal issues before you in a very impartial manner,” he said. 

Lawmaker, law professor seek full term

Thomas and Fink are seeking the full eight-year term left open by Viviano, who announced in March that he won’t seek reelection to Michigan’s highest court.

Fink, of Adams Township, is a Republican lawmaker in the state House of Representatives, where he serves as vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee. He initially intended to challenge Bolden for her partial term but ran instead for Viviano’s open seat after the sitting justice announced his retirement.

Fink told Bridge he hopes to be a “transformational leader” on a Supreme Court that he believes “has seen better days,” and said he would take an originalist approach, striving to interpret laws as written. 

“The people deserve to have predictable justice,” he said. “The number one thing that the court system can deliver is a reliable method of resolving these disputes in a way that ensures every citizen… has a court system that works for them, rather than one that is kind of designed to drive outcomes in a particular way.”

Thomas is a law professor at the University of Michigan Law School, where she teaches civil and criminal litigation and runs the Juvenile Justice Clinic. She served as a Whitmer appointee on the state’s bipartisan Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform and was previously a trial attorney. 

She said during the League of Women Voters forum that she wants to serve on the court because she cares deeply about the quality of justice Michigan residents receive. 

“Michiganders deserve a court system that we can trust, one that is fair and treats every person with dignity and respect,” Thomas said.