By Isabel Lohman and Lauren Gibbons
Bridge Michigan
This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.
Two incumbent Michigan Supreme Court justices, Megan Cavanagh and Noah Hood, were reelected to the state’s highest court on Tuesday, maintaining the court’s wide liberal majority.
Cavanagh, who currently serves as the court’s chief justice, and Hood, who was appointed to finish out a partial term by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year, led the race for eight-year terms on the court.
The incumbents bested Republican nominees Casandra Morse-Bills and Michael D. Warren Jr.
In short speeches Tuesday night, Cavanagh and Hood thanked supporters.
“I will continue to approach every case with an open mind, respect for the law and dedication to equal justice under the law,” Cavanagh said.
Hood promised “even-handed justice and that you will not walk out of the courtroom confused.”
Although Supreme Court elections in Michigan are nonpartisan, candidates’ nominations are a political process, with delegates at state party conventions determining who advances to the November ballot.
The state GOP had sought to cut into the liberal majority, nominating two experienced circuit court judges and pitching them as an ideological counterbalance.
But they faced heavy spending by the incumbent candidates and their supporters, who continued investing in a multiyear effort to first flip and then maintain the court’s ideological bent.
Democrat-nominated incumbents have spent more than $840,000 on television ads to try to secure reelection, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Separately, the group Justice for All Michigan spent an estimated $2.19 million and the ACLU Voter Education Fund spent about $400,000 in Michigan’s Supreme Court elections.
The Michigan Supreme Court often has the final say on issues of critical importance, including whether laws enacted by the state Legislature are constitutional or whether ballot measures should go before voters.
The court has in recent months made several precedent-setting decisions on criminal law, including limits on the constitutionality of mandatory life without parole sentences and a ruling declaring the state’s sex offender registry law unconstitutional if applied retroactively.
The latter decision has already resulted in the removal of more than 20,000 people from the list.
The court also adopted a rule this year aiming to limit the ability of law enforcement officers to make civil arrests — including immigration arrests of suspected noncitizens — in state and local courtrooms.
“Our democracy calls for three branches of government, each with integrity. It’s more important than ever that those who run our judicial system respect and uphold the rule of law,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel.
Cavanagh and Hood “have and will continue to defend and uphold our state’s Constitution and the democracy it protects,” Hertel said.
Bridge Michigan
This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.
Two incumbent Michigan Supreme Court justices, Megan Cavanagh and Noah Hood, were reelected to the state’s highest court on Tuesday, maintaining the court’s wide liberal majority.
Cavanagh, who currently serves as the court’s chief justice, and Hood, who was appointed to finish out a partial term by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year, led the race for eight-year terms on the court.
The incumbents bested Republican nominees Casandra Morse-Bills and Michael D. Warren Jr.
In short speeches Tuesday night, Cavanagh and Hood thanked supporters.
“I will continue to approach every case with an open mind, respect for the law and dedication to equal justice under the law,” Cavanagh said.
Hood promised “even-handed justice and that you will not walk out of the courtroom confused.”
Although Supreme Court elections in Michigan are nonpartisan, candidates’ nominations are a political process, with delegates at state party conventions determining who advances to the November ballot.
The state GOP had sought to cut into the liberal majority, nominating two experienced circuit court judges and pitching them as an ideological counterbalance.
But they faced heavy spending by the incumbent candidates and their supporters, who continued investing in a multiyear effort to first flip and then maintain the court’s ideological bent.
Democrat-nominated incumbents have spent more than $840,000 on television ads to try to secure reelection, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Separately, the group Justice for All Michigan spent an estimated $2.19 million and the ACLU Voter Education Fund spent about $400,000 in Michigan’s Supreme Court elections.
The Michigan Supreme Court often has the final say on issues of critical importance, including whether laws enacted by the state Legislature are constitutional or whether ballot measures should go before voters.
The court has in recent months made several precedent-setting decisions on criminal law, including limits on the constitutionality of mandatory life without parole sentences and a ruling declaring the state’s sex offender registry law unconstitutional if applied retroactively.
The latter decision has already resulted in the removal of more than 20,000 people from the list.
The court also adopted a rule this year aiming to limit the ability of law enforcement officers to make civil arrests — including immigration arrests of suspected noncitizens — in state and local courtrooms.
“Our democracy calls for three branches of government, each with integrity. It’s more important than ever that those who run our judicial system respect and uphold the rule of law,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel.
Cavanagh and Hood “have and will continue to defend and uphold our state’s Constitution and the democracy it protects,” Hertel said.
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