Michigan Supreme Court Expands Democratic Majority As GOP-Backed Judges Fail To Pick Up Seats

Democrats expanded their majority on the Michigan Supreme Court, picking up an additional seat, multiple outlets reported.

Both of the Democrat-backed candidates defeated their Republican-backed opponents, shifting the Democratic majority to 5-2, according to multiplereports. Nominees for the state supreme court are chosen during party conventions, although the race is listed as nonpartisan on the ballot.

GOP-nominated Andrew Fink, currently a state house representative, lost to the Democrat-backed Kimberly Thomas, a law professor at the University of Michigan Law School. Thomas is slated to serve a full eight-year term.

Current Republican nominated Justice David Viviano enabled the party to select Fink as their new candidate when he announced his retirement in March.

In the other race for a partial four-year term, GOP-supported Judge Patrick William O’Grady lost to the Democrat-backed incumbent Justice Kyra Harris Bolden. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer selected Bolden in Nov. 2022 to fill a vacancy on the court.

In September 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that an initiative to make abortion a constitutional right should appear on the ballot. The court also held in 2022 that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected categories under the state’s civil rights law.

Michigan Democratic Party nominated candidates outraised their Republican counterparts by nearly nine times the amount, Michigan Advance reported in October.

The American Civil Liberties Union’s Voter Education Fund announced in September it was investing $2 million in the race because the court’s decisions “shape civil rights and liberties, including reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, disability rights, privacy rights, and more,” marking the first time it invested in a Michigan Supreme Court race.

“We have witnessed a growing hostility toward our rights at the federal level as evidenced by the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade,” Bonsitu Kitaba, ACLU of Michigan deputy legal director, said in a September statement. “Whether through the courts, Congress, or beyond, we cannot let these attacks on our rights go unanswered.”

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/MLive)

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