Craig Ruff, a senior fellow with Public Sector Consultants in Lansing, said it's rare for a state Supreme Court justice to break ranks with other justices nominated by the same political party.

He said Michigan is unique in that justices of the High Court are nonpartisan, but are nominated by the Republican and Democratic parties.

"It's going to get (Mary Beth Kelly) in trouble with the Republican Party," Ruff said. "We saw that with (retired Republican-nominated) Justice Betty Weaver, who at least in her last term was voting more often with Democratic justices than Republican justices.

"(Weaver) became persona non grata in the Republican Party."