Justice Maura D. Corrigan, who left the Michigan Supreme Court on Friday to serve as director of the Michigan Department of Human Services, will stand out in the court’s history for her “lasting achievements” as a jurist, administrator and children’s advocate, according to Chief Justice Robert P. Young, Jr.
“Her record is one that few have or will ever equal,” Young said. “Maura Corrigan has met head-on some of this state’s most difficult challenges, and she has succeeded brilliantly.”
As an example of Corrigan’s leadership, Young cited the statewide conversion to the federally-mandated Michigan Child Support Enforcement System.
In 2001, shortly after becoming chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, Corrigan learned that Michigan was facing federal penalties if all the state’s counties did not convert to MICSES.
“There were many in the state who were ready to give up, who said there was no way this conversion could be accomplished by the federal deadline,” Young said. “But Maura Corrigan had the will and vision to pull the state courts together.
Young said Corrigan “not only brought the conversion to completion, she also averted about $147 million in federal penalties.”
A member of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, Corrigan has ben recognized on a national level for work on foster care and adoption issues.
In 2008, she received the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Award for Innovative Partnerships as well as the Michigan Children’s Award.
Three years before that, Corrigan received the Coalition on Adoption “Angels in Adoption” Award.
Young also commended Corrigan for her legal scholarship andleadership of the state’s two appellate courts.
As chief appeals court judge, Young said, Corrigan eliminated a “serious case backlog.”
“Moreover, she has written some of the most influential legal opinions of the past decade,” Young added. “She is a rigorous thinker and precise writer, the kind of colleague who spurs you to do your own best work. She raises the standard wherever she goes.”
Young said the children of Michigan will benefit from Corrigan’s “passion to ensure that every child is well cared for. The children of this state could have no better friend or advocate.”
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