Elizabeth Clement will be Michigan Supreme Court chief justice for full term
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Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement will serve as the court's top judge for a full court term, after initially being picked in November to replace retiring Justice Bridget McCormack in the role at the end of the previous term.
Clement is slated to serve as chief justice until Dec. 31, 2024. She was originally nominated to the court by former Gov. Rick Snyder in 2017 before winning a full, eight-year term in 2018. While Clement was nominated by a Republican, Democratic-nominated justices have a 4-3 advantage on the bench.
"In the new year and beyond, we all look forward to working with judges and court professionals statewide to further our shared commitment to civility, transparency, and accountability," Clement said in a statement. "Together, we can achieve our shared mission to ensure courts are independent, accessible, engaged, and provide an efficient justice system that works for everyone."
Clement, who was Snyder's chief legal counsel, has voted with Democratic-nominated justices in several notable decisions, including banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and placing proposals on voting rights and abortion access on the November 2022 ballot.
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Clement previously recused herself from an opinion related to Snyder's involvement in the Flint water crisis, in which the court's remaining justices unanimously sided with former state officials in agreeing that a lower judge had erred in serving as a "one-man grand jury" to indict the officials, including Snyder. The charges against Snyder have since been dismissed.
McCormack, the previous chief justice, will join the American Arbitration Association-International Center for Dispute Resolution in February as its new president and CEO. In November, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer named former state Rep. Kyra Harris Bolden as McCormack's replacement on the Michigan Supreme Court. Bolden is the first Black woman to serve on the court and was sworn in on Monday.
Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @arpanlobo.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Supreme Court picks Clement as Chief Justice for full term
