Employment and Labor Law
The last several years (election cycles, actually) have been turbulent ones in the Michigan court system. In 2008, after an extended period in which the majority of the Michigan Supreme Court justices were identified as having conservative or Republican leanings, one such justice, Clifford Taylor, was replaced on the bench by Diane Hathaway, who is viewed as less conservative. For some time, then, liberal and conservative justices were evenly divided, with Justice Elizabeth Weaver, who was reliably conservative in the past, as a swing vote. In fall 2010, then Justice Weaver resigned, which allowed then-Governor Jennifer Granholm to appoint Alton Davis to the high court. Despite running as an incumbent in the 2010 election, Justice Davis did not retain that seat, and was replaced by Mary Beth Kelly, returning the court’s majority to the conservatives. Read More …