New White Paper on the Michigan Supreme Court
by The Federalist Society
Posted October 20, 2010, 11:12 AM
In 2008, Chief Justice Cliff Taylor lost his bid for re-election to the Michigan Supreme Court to Justice Diane Marie Hathaway. The result of that election was of particular importance to the legal community and court watchers in Michigan because, as one Michigan newspaper put it, “Many of the most controversial recent decisions by the seven-member [Michigan Supreme] Court have been issued by a Taylor-led, four-vote conservative majority.”
Court watchers and opinion leaders have observed the Michigan Supreme Court’s trends since the 2008 election to determine whether the shift in judicial philosophy that many expected had indeed come to pass. To help shed further light on that question, a new white paper by C. Thomas Ludden, published by the Federalist Society, analyzes several areas of law that the Michigan Supreme Court has considered since Justice Hathaway took her seat, with special emphasis on areas of the law that have the potential of directly impacting Michigan’s economy. Click here to read the paper.
The Federalist Society has also published a statewide survey from the polling companyTM, inc./WomanTrend of 500 likely voters in Michigan about the state supreme court and different forms of jurisprudence. Click here to view the survey.
Click here to see other white papers from the Federalist Society.