Clifford Taylor

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Chief Justice Clifford Taylor
Chief Justice Clifford Taylor

Contents

Michigan Supreme Court


Sitting Justices
Clifford Taylor
Michael Cavanagh
Elizabeth Weaver
Marilyn Jean Kelly
Maura Corrigan
Robert Young
Stephen Markman
2008 challengers
Diane Hathaway
Former justices
Michigan on Judgepedia


Clifford W. Taylor is the current Chief Justice on the Michigan Supreme Court, and is up for re-election in 2008.

For more information on the election, see this page on the race for the Supreme Court.

Legal Experience

Taylor received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and his law degree from George Washington University. After three years in the U.S. Navy as a line officer, he returned to Michigan and served as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Ingham County.[1]

In 1972, he joined the Lansing law firm of Denfield, Timmer and Seelye, which later became Denfield, Timmer & Taylor when he became a partner in the firm. He remained in private practice for 20 years, receiving the highest ratings for competence and character by lawyer rating organizations. In 1992, Governor Engler appointed him to the Michigan Court of Appeals where he served until his appointment to the Michigan Supreme Court in August 1997, to fill the seat vacated by retiring Justice Dorothy Comstock Riley. In 1998, Justice Taylor ran and was elected to fill the balance of Justice Riley’s term. Justice Taylor was re-elected to a full eight-year term in 2000. In January 2005, he was elected by his colleagues to serve as Chief Justice of the Court.[2]

Awards and Associations

Justice Taylor’s professional activities include service on the Board of Directors of the National Conference of Chief Justices, and on the Board of the George Mason University Law and Economics Center which provides judicial education across the country. He served in the past on the Michigan Legislature’s Commission on the Courts in the 21st Century, and on the Michigan State Board of Law Examiners. He is the co-author of a three-volume work entitled Torts which covers personal injury law in Michigan. His community activities include having served on the Board of Directors of Chief Okemos Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and the Board of Directors for the Michigan Dyslexia Institute.[3]

Federalist Society

On March 7, 2008, Justice Taylor participated in a panel discussion sponsored by the Federalist Society at the University of Michigan Law School entitled "The Merits of Electing Our Judges."[4]

Political Affiliation and Judicial Philosophy

Republican.
"Judges have an important but narrow role: to apply the law as written by the Legislature. In other words, a judge has no authority to impose his personal views or pursue his own agenda."[5]

American Justice Partnership Interview

Chief Justice Taylor speaks with the American Justice Partnership Foundation
Chief Justice Taylor speaks with the American Justice Partnership Foundation

Excerpt from the interview:

Regarding running for the Michigan Supreme Court twice in two years (the first, in 1998, to complete the term; the second, in 2000, to receive a full eight-year term), and what it was about that challenge that made it "rewarding":

My ability to inform the people of Michigan about what it was I was attempting to accomplish, and that was that I was a 'judicial conservative'--and by that I mean not a political conservative, but a judicial conservative. Which means that I believe the court's job is to follow the law and follow the constitution. It may be that that produces outcomes that people who aren't aware of that template find offensive.

See here for the full interview.

2008 Supreme Court Election

Campaign Finances

As of August 30, 2008, Chief Justice Taylor had raised $1,464,000.[6].

Opposition

Despite fierce Democratic Party contempt for Chief Justice Taylor, Democrats have spent the election year, through June 2008, evading inquiries concerning their Supreme Court candidate. Prognosticators suspect that attorney Marietta Robinson will again be their choice to unseat Taylor. Robinson, highly regarded in Democratic and Detroit circles, ran against Taylor in 2000; in that year, Democrats spent millions in an attempt to unseat three sitting Republican justices.[7]

Justice at Stake Defends Taylor

In an official press release, Justice at Stake and its Executive Director Bert Brandenburg criticized the efforts of the group Reform Michigan Government Now and their ballot measure of the same name which, is blatantly geared toward unseating Chief Justice Clifford Taylor in this year's election. Brandenburg said the ad targets Michigan Chief Justice Cliff Taylor and "appears designed to intimidate him into ruling a certain way on a potential case—or face the prospect of losing his job if he doesn’t." He went on to say that legal cases should be based on the facts and the law, not partisan intimidation.

"Our courts have to be independent if they’re going to be accountable to the law and the Constitution instead of political coercion. When judges are pressured to prejudge a case before they hear it, and threatened with a pink slip if they don’t buckle, the rule of law is turned on its head."

The full press release was adamant in its condemnation of the initiative: By itself, the initiative’s treatment of the judiciary is disconcerting. It would eliminate two justices from the Michigan Supreme Court (both Republicans). Every judge in the state would have their salary cut by 15% and benefits reduced. We urge all political parties to knock off ad campaigns that undermine our system of justice. Partisan bullying of judges ought to chill the blood of anyone who wants a fair day in court.

"The measure uses seniority to determine that Justices Stephen Markman and Robert Young, half of a conservative majority on the high court constructed by GOP Gov. John Engler, would lose their seats in a downsizing of the court. Cuts in the Court of Appeals target Republican jurists as well."[8] Additionally, California-based signature collection firm, Progressive Campaigns Inc., has been contracted by the group to circulate the petition.

If petitioners gather enough valid signatures--371,000--, it would qualify for this year's ballot.

Democrats Maneuver to Gain Majority on Court

Judges who would see a pay cut and in some cases a pink slip under a sweeping amendment to the state constitution likely will decide if the measure gets on the November ballot. It's an ethical quandary because court rules say judges can be disqualified from hearing a case if they have an "economic interest" in the result.

The salaries of Supreme Court justices, Court of Appeals judges and trial judges would fall 15 percent if the proposal passes. It also would cut the number of high court justices from seven to five and appeals judges from 28 to 21 while adding 10 trial judges. Backers of the amendment, including Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer, refuse to say who wrote it or paid to collect 487,000 signatures to try to put it on the ballot. But Brewer and other supporters say judges have a clear conflict of interest if they block the measure from reaching voters. However, many legal experts agree that in the end, judges will rule on legal challenges to the proposal if for no other reason than they have to. The measure appears to have been developed behind the scenes by Democratic strategists working in conjunction with Hastings-based activists. The activists unsuccessfully tried in 2006 to move to a unicameral, or one-chamber, legislature. Democrats, while worried black voters could lose representation if legislative seats are cut, like provisions to revamp the way districts are redrawn in 2011 by shifting responsibility from the Legislature to a nine-member commission. Each major political party would choose four members and the eight would select a nonpartisan chair. Under the current system, the Michigan Supreme Court ends up hearing redistricting lawsuits. The ballot measure would take away state courts' say in the pivotal process and reshape Republicans' 5-2 dominance of the high court by cutting two justices with the least seniority. Those justices are Republicans, which the GOP says is no coincidence.

Backers of the measure are sending warning signals -- particularly to Republican Chief Justice Clifford Taylor, the only justice up for re-election this year and a big target of Democrats. "The special interests will try to block the will of the people," said Joe Lukasiewicz, executive director of Reform Michigan Government Now, which organized the proposal. "And because every judge has a conflict of interest, the courts should stand aside and let the people decide in November on reforming Michigan's broken government." Republicans and business groups expected to sue over the constitutional amendment caution that it's a stealth power grab by Democrats and a primary motive is defeating Taylor by hammering his conflict of interest if the measure doesn't make the ballot.
"They're willing to throw out Michigan's constitution to do it. What an absurd abuse of power that would be," Michigan Republican Party spokesman Bill Nowling said.[9]

Evidence of Democratic Maneuvers

While researching union expenditures on a UAW website, a labor intern for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy discovered a PowerPoint presentation entitled, "Changing the Rules of politics in Michigan to help Democrats," that revealed the primary aim of obtaining redistricting advantages for Democrats. Slide eight stated that securing a majority in every branch of government was "an extremely expensive and very long shot proposition." But, according to the presentation, "Redistricting reform by itself will not be approved by the voters." In order to succeed, "redistricting reform must be a small part of a larger, popular state government reform proposal." In order to secure the redistricting advantage, Reform Michigan Government Now would need to alter Michigan's courts. The most inexpensive way--according to the presentation--to alter Michigan's courts, would be to "Reduce the number of Supreme Court Justices from seven to five; two GOP Justice eliminated" and "Reduce the Court of Appeals from 28 to 20 judges, most of them [former Republican Governor John] Engler appointees."

The proposed amendment has generated a court challenge. Opponents argue that the proposal is a constitutional revision that requires a constitutional convention that requires a constitutional convention. The measure is too complex to be described within 100 words as required by the Michigan Constitution, and there are technical deficiencies in the amendments, which includes a reference to a section of the Constitution that does not exist. To have a court rejection would not be considered a loss by RMGN. In a campaign commercial aired prior to the discovery of the PowerPoint presentation, the Michigan Democratic Party contended that any negative court ruling would demonstrate that Chief Justice Clifford Taylor, the sole justice up for reelection, was biased. Were Judge Taylor to lose his re-election bid, and the proposal were to pass, the RMGN would not only succeed in cutting the Supreme Court by two, but would be able to influence the open seat.[10]

Smear Campaign

The often blatant contempt Michigan Democrats have for Justice Taylor is evident in some select links.

On the Issues

See the talk page (discussion tab) for Clifford Taylor for the "On the Issues" case analysis template, which can be copied and pasted to this section.

See Also

External Links

References

  1. ↑ Michigan Supreme Court: Clifford Taylor
  2. ↑ Michigan Supreme Court: Clifford Taylor
  3. ↑ Michigan Supreme Court Biography
  4. ↑ Student Symposium Schedule
  5. ↑ Cliff Taylor: Why This Race is Important to You
  6. ↑ Judge Thomas Battles for High Court
  7. ↑ Democratic candidate for Michigan top court? Does anybody know?
  8. ↑ Bid to reform state government has partisan twist
  9. ↑ Michigan judges face ethical issues over pay cut
  10. ↑ "A Partisan Pill for Michigan's Foundational Problems"
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