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Rule Of Law Majority Preserved

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Mon Jan 10, 2011 at 11:02:01 AM EST
Tags: Michigan State Supreme Court, rule-of-law, Cliff Taylor, Robert Young, Mary Beth Kelly, Rick Snyder, Brian Calley, Maura Corrigan, Brian Zahra, John Engler (all tags)

Back on November 4, 2008, the electoral disaster known as the Obama Tsunami swept out SCOMI rule-of-law Chief Justice Cliff Taylor, replacing him with creative interpretationist Diane Hathaway. During the intervening two years, Robert Young jr. (who is now the SCOMI Chief Justice) lectured on a regular basis throughout the state on the importance of returning a rule-of-law majority to the state's highest bench. The result was that, on November 2, 2010, the voters of Michigan elected Judge Mary Beth Kelly to the state's highest court. Combined with the re-election of Justice Robert Young, they turned out creative interpretation Justice Alton Davis and restored a rule-of-law majority to that bench.

However, with Governor Snyder tapping rule-of-law Justice Maura Corrigan to head the Department of Human Services, the voters of this state were understandably concerned that the governor might appoint someone who wouldn't square with the philosophy that they had voted for. I had spoken with Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley back on last Tuesday (January 4th) regarding this, and had been assured by him that the strongest rule-of-law judge not currently serving on Michigan's State Supreme Court would be appointed to fill the vacancy.

I'm happy to notice that I've not been disappointed.

Following the announcement that Justice Corrigan would be leaving the bench, speculation ran rampant as to who would be appointed to replace her. Several names had been mentioned, most of whom were known as "proper refereeing" judges. The odd (or perhaps annoying) thing about this was that, though the name was known as early as the Corrigan announcement, the administration kept their pick under very tight wraps until this morning.

Brian K. Zahra has been a judge on Michigan's First Circuit Court of Appeals since former Governor John Engler appointed him to that post in December of 1998. He is also a former Wayne County Circuit Court Judge and lives in Northville Township. All of the information that I have on him indicates that his judicial philosophy is almost identical to the SCOMI justice that he will be replacing. In other words, to paraphrase SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts, the court's job is to call balls, strikes, and outs, not to be players in the game.

Judge Zahra will officially take office on Friday, and will have to run as an incumbent in 2012 to finish out Corrigan's term (which means that he'll also have to run in 2014).

From the Chicago Tribune:

"Judge Zahra's sixteen years of judicial experience and his razor sharp intelligence will make him an outstanding addition to the court," Snyder said. "His integrity and consistent legal philosophy that judges are to interpret laws, not make them, gives me confidence that he will respect our system of checks and balances while upholding the rule of law."

Thank you, Governor.