Brian Dickerson: The case of money v. justice in Michigan's Supreme Court

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Brian Dickerson: The case of money v. justice in Supreme Court
May 6, 2012
Brian Dickerson


State Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly and U.S. Court of Appeals Judge James Ryan are two of the most experienced jurists in Michigan. They tend to diverge on political matters -- she's a liberal Democrat, he's a conservative Republican -- but between them is more than 25 years of service on our state's highest court.

So when Kelly and Ryan stand up at a press conference to tell you that court has been bought and paid for by special interests, it should get your attention.

They didn't come right out and say that, of course, because both are extremely courteous people, and they do not want to suggest that justices with whom they have appeared in countless official photographs have the same ethical standards as, say, Kwame Kilpatrick.

So what they and the bipartisan Michigan Judicial Selection Task Force did, in a unanimous report issued last week, is point out that, in the most recent 10-year interval for which reliable data is available, almost 9 out of 10 cases that came before Michigan's highest court involved parties who had donated money to the justices' campaigns .

more...
http://www.freep.com/article/20120506/COL04/205060475/Brian-Dickerson-The-case-of-money-v-justice-in-Supreme-Court

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