Michigan GOP could drop support for judge over gerrymandering vote

Paul Egan | Detroit Free Press

LANSING – Will the Michigan Republican Party withdraw its planned nomination of Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Clement at its August convention, as a rebuke for her vote late Tuesday to put an anti-gerrymandering proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot?

Might the party even nominate another judicial candidate in her place?

Those questions were front and center Wednesday in the wake of Tuesday's late-night, 4-3, decision by the Michigan Supreme Court involving the controversial proposal.

Clement, who was appointed to the court in November by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and must seek election in November for a full eight-year term, joined with another Snyder appointee, Justice David Viviano, and two Democratic-nominated justices — Richard Bernstein and Bridget McCormack — to allow the proposal to end a system of drawing political lines that has benefited Michigan Republicans in recent years.

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“I know that many activists and delegates are furious with her abandonment of the Rule of Law philosophy in this case,” as well as other recent cases, Tony Daunt, executive director of the conservative Michigan Freedom Fund, said Wednesday.

“Ultimately, it’s up to the delegates on whether Clement needs to be held accountable for her record.”

Viviano does not face re-election until 2024. Although candidates for the Michigan Supreme Court run on a nonpartisan ballot, they are generally nominated by the two major political parties.

The Republican Party could nominate another candidate in place of Clement, though she would remain on the ballot as an incumbent justice.

There's a precedent for such a development, though it has only happened once in Michigan history, said Bill Ballenger, a longtime state political pundit and historian and publisher of the online newsletter The Ballenger Report.

In 1976, Michigan Democrats opted not to nominate incumbent Justice Thomas Giles Kavanagh over unhappiness with his judicial record, instead nominating former Detroit Mayor Roman Gribbs. Kavanagh, who still had the "incumbent" designation beside his name on the ballot, still won handily, Ballenger said.

Republicans may feel the most important judicial priority in the Nov. 6 election is to protect the other Republican-nominated justice up for election, Kurtis Wilder. The party could withhold either funding or its nomination of Clement but not nominate anyone in her place, instead focusing its financial support on Wilder, he said.

Since only two full terms are on the ballot, all candidates will run against all other candidates and the top two vote-getters will be elected.

What's happened recently with the GOP's 5-2 majority on the court is "astounding," and "I sense a growing fury building out there in the Republican Party delegation that could manifest itself at the convention," Ballenger said.

He said the party deadline for nominating candidates expired just days before the Voters Not Politicians decision was released — and that might not be a coincidence. Still, he said the party could suspend the rules at its convention by a two-thirds vote and still nominate another judicial candidate.

Sarah Anderson, a party spokeswoman, declined comment.

Clement, who served as Snyder's chief legal counsel, had no prior judicial experience and no judicial record to assess prior to her appointment.

Since Clement's appointment, a new voting bloc appears to have developed on the court in the eyes of some GOP activists that has largely evaporated the court's 5-2 Republican majority, with Clement and Viviano voting with the two Democratic-nominated justices on several key issues.

On July 27, the same four justices joined in another ruling that angered many conservatives, saying schools can ban guns on their properties. Again, Chief Justice Stephen Markman dissented along with Justices Brian Zahra and Wilder.

They earlier voted together on a significant contracts case.

Rich Studley, president and CEO of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which helped bankroll a group that legally challenged the ballot proposal, said his group is disappointed in the ruling, but it accepts the decision and does not plan further legal action.

The chamber's membership includes people of all political stripes, said Studley, adding that he is not a Republican activist and has no plans to attend the party's state convention in August.

Whether the Michigan Republican Party should nominate Clement is a question "better directed at party officials," Studley said.

John Yob, a Grand Rapids-based political consultant and Republican convention strategist, said many in the party "still strongly support (Clement) and there is no chance that anyone could put together the votes to suspend the rules at a convention to nominate anyone else."

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.