Beth Clement | |
---|---|
Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court | |
Assumed office November 22, 2022 | |
Preceded by | Bridget Mary McCormack |
Associate Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court | |
Assumed office November 17,2017 | |
Appointed by | Rick Snyder |
Preceded by | Joan Larsen |
Personal details | |
Born | Elizabeth Ann Tripp October 8,1977 |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Thomas Clement |
Children | 4 |
Education | Michigan State University (BA,JD) |
Elizabeth Ann "Beth" Tripp Clement (born October 8,1977) is an American lawyer who serves as the chief justice of Michigan since 2022. She has served as an associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court since 2017,after being appointed by Governor Rick Snyder.
Clement graduated from Michigan State University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science,and she earned her Juris Doctor from the Michigan State University College of Law in 2002. [1] She owned and operated a private firm,Clement Law,PLLC,from 2002 to 2006,where she represented individuals and businesses primarily in the areas of family law,adoption,probate,estate planning,and criminal law. [2]
Clement served in both legislative and executive branches of the Michigan government before being appointed to the bench. Before opening her own firm,Clement served as a legislative aide to State Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Rogers [2] and a policy advisor and legal counsel to state Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop from 2006 through 2010. [2]
In 2011,Clement joined the administration of Michigan's new governor,Rick Snyder,as deputy legal counsel. [3] In 2014,Clement was promoted to deputy chief of staff and added the position of Snyder's cabinet secretary in 2015. [3] She was promoted to Snyder's chief legal counsel in a staff shakeup by Snyder amidst the Flint water crisis in April 2016. [4]
On November 1,2017,Justice Joan Larsen was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. [5] Larsen resigned from the Michigan Supreme Court soon after and received her commission on November 8,2017. [6] Clement was first mentioned as a potential candidate by the Gongwer News Service on November 1,2017, [7] and Clement's appointment was leaked to the press on November 15,2017. Snyder formally appointed Clement to the Michigan Supreme Court on November 17,2017. [8] Clement is the third woman to serve in this seat on the Court during its eight-year term that was last up for election in 2010. Mary Beth Kelly was elected in November 2010,but announced her resignation from the Court in August 2015,to return to private practice effective October 1,2015. [9] Following Larsen's appointment by Snyder in October 2015,Larsen was elected to fill the remaining two years of Kelly's term in November 2016. [10] After Larsen's resignation Clement served 12 months of the final 14 months of the term before she was elected to a full eight-year term in November 2018. [11]
Early in her tenure on the court,Clement faced backlash from conservative activists over her being one of two Snyder appointees (along with Justice David Viviano) to join the Court's two Democratic justices to allow a proposal that would create an independent commission to draw the state's Congressional boundaries to proceed to the November ballot. [12]
There was speculation that the Michigan Republican Party might have not endorsed Clement or nominated another candidate in her place. (Though candidates for the Michigan Supreme Court run on the non-partisan section of the ballot,the major two political parties nominate candidates for each seat) [13] Clement was booed at the Michigan Republican Convention in August 2018 when her name was brought up for nomination for a full term,but she was nominated for a full term along with fellow incumbent Justice Kurtis T. Wilder. [14] Clement later said she faced "bullying" and unusual "outside pressure" to vote to keep the redistricting proposal off the ballot. [15] Clement's name and picture were even kept off literature distributed by volunteers before the 2018 mid-term elections,a decision a Michigan GOP spokesman said was driven by the fact that some volunteers felt uncomfortable supporting Clement. [15] Despite this opposition,Clement was the only person nominated by the Michigan Republican Party to win a statewide election in 2018.[ citation needed ]
Clement resides in East Lansing,Michigan with her husband and four children. [2] [16] Her husband,Thomas P. Clement,has served as general counsel to the Michigan Supreme Court since May 2016. [7]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Non-partisan | Elizabeth T. Clement (incumbent) | 1,871,462 | 29.88 | |
Non-partisan | Megan Cavanagh | 1,584,512 | 25.3 | |
Non-partisan | Kurtis T. Wilder (incumbent) | 1,519,394 | 24.26 | |
Non-partisan | Samuel Bagenstos | 717,062 | 11.45 | |
Non-partisan | Kerry Lee Morgan | 360,858 | 5.76 | |
Non-partisan | Doug Dern | 209,103 | 3.34 |
The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing,the state capital.
Richard Dale Snyder is an American business executive,venture capitalist,attorney,accountant,and politician who served as the 48th governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019.
William Duncan Schuette is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd attorney general of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. He was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Senate in 1990 and for Governor of Michigan in the 2018 gubernatorial election.
Bridget Mary McCormack is an American lawyer,professor,and retired justice. She served on the Michigan Supreme Court from 2013 to 2022,first as an associate justice,and as chief justice from 2019 to 2022. Previously she was a professor at the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor,where she taught criminal law and legal ethics and oversaw the law school's clinical programs as associate dean of clinical affairs. Her academic work focused on practical experience in legal education. McCormack launched and worked in a pediatric advocacy law clinic focusing on children with health problems,and a domestic violence clinic. She retired from the Supreme Court at the end of 2022 and became President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Arbitration Association in February 2023.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Michigan enjoy the same rights as non-LGBT people. Michigan in June 2024 was ranked “the most welcoming US state for LGBT individuals”. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Michigan under the U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas,although the state legislature has not repealed its sodomy law. Same-sex marriage was legalised in accordance with 2015's Obergefell v. Hodges decision. Discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity is unlawful since July 2022,was re-affirmed by the Michigan Supreme Court - under and by a 1976 statewide law,that explicitly bans discrimination "on the basis of sex". The Michigan Civil Rights Commission have also ensured that members of the LGBT community are not discriminated against and are protected in the eyes of the law since 2018 and also legally upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court in 2022. In March 2023,a bill passed the Michigan Legislature by a majority vote - to formally codify both "sexual orientation and gender identity" anti-discrimination protections embedded within Michigan legislation. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the bill on March 16,2023. In 2024,Michigan repealed “the last ban on commercial surrogacy within the US”- for individuals and couples and reformed the parentage laws,that acknowledges same sex couples and their families with children.
Jocelyn Benson is an American academic administrator,attorney,and politician serving as the 43rd Secretary of State of Michigan since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party,she is a former dean of Wayne State University Law School,a co-founder of the Military Spouses of Michigan,and a board member of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality. Benson is the author of State Secretaries of State:Guardians of the Democratic Process.
Robert P. Young Jr. is a former justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. Young was first appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1999,elected in 2000 and 2002,and again won reelection in 2010 for a term ending in 2019. Justice Young announced he would be retiring from the court at the end of April 2017. Young is a self-described judicial traditionalist or textualist. In June 2017,Young announced his intentions to run against Debbie Stabenow in the 2018 senate race,but later dropped out saying he could not raise enough money for his campaign.
Mary Beth Kelly is a lawyer and former justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. She was elected on November 2,2010 and took office on January 1,2011 for an eight-year term that ended on January 1,2019. On August 17,2015,she announced her resignation from the Supreme Court effective October 1,2015,to return to private practice at Bodman PLC in Detroit.
Brian K. Zahra is a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. He was appointed to fill a vacancy by Governor Rick Snyder in 2011. Zahra won his bid for reelection in 2022 to retain his seat for eight more years,per the Michigan Constitution.
John J. Bursch was the 10th Michigan Solicitor General. He was appointed by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette on February 28,2011. Prior to being Michigan Solicitor General,Bursch served as chair of the Appellate Practice and Public-Affairs Litigation Groups at Warner Norcross &Judd. Bursch argued in more than 6% of all the cases the U.S. Supreme Court heard during his tenure as solicitor general. Bursch returned to private practice at Warner Norcross &Judd in December 2013,and founded his own law firm in 2016,Bursch Law.
Alton Thomas Davis is an American prosecutor,jurist and former member of the Michigan Supreme Court.
David Francis Viviano is a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court,appointed by Governor Rick Snyder on February 28,2013,to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Justice Diane Hathaway. Prior to his appointment to the Michigan Supreme Court,Justice Viviano was the Chief Judge of the Macomb County Circuit Court.
Joan Louise Larsen is an American attorney serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She previously was an associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court from 2015 to 2017.
The Michigan general election,2018 was held on Tuesday,November 6,2018,throughout Michigan. The Democrats swept all of the statewide offices formerly held by the Republicans.
The 2018 Michigan Attorney General election took place on November 6,2018,alongside elections to elect Michigan's governor,Class I United States Senator,Secretary of State,as well elections for Michigan's 14 seats in the United States House of Representatives,all 38 seats in the Michigan Senate and all 110 seats in the Michigan House of Representatives;to elect the Secretary of State of Michigan. Incumbent Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette was prohibited from seeking a third term due to term limits and unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Michigan instead. The Michigan GOP was unsuccessful in looking to win its 5th straight attorney general election. Along with the offices of Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State,the nominees for attorney general were chosen by party delegates at their respective party conventions.
Kurtis T. Wilder is a former associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court,appointed in May 2017 by Gov. Rick Snyder.
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Megan Kathleen Cavanagh is an attorney who was elected in November 2018 to become an associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court with a term beginning in January 2019.
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