Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stepping Down

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Mary Beth Kelly said Monday that she will step down Oct. 1 to return to private practice.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served on our state’s highest court,” Kelly said in a statement, according to The Detroit News. “I leave the Supreme Court knowing that our judicial system is better equipped to help families and children.”

Kelly is of five Republicans on the seven-member court. She was elected to Supreme Court in November 2010 and was sworn into office the following January. According to her bio on the Supreme Court website, Kelly was a Wayne County Circuit Court judge from 1999-2010, including three terms as chief judge. She remains the only woman in history to have been a chief judge in Wayne County.

Before her appointment to the bench, she worked as a lawyer and commercial litigation partner in the Detroit law firm of Dickinson Wright from 1987-1999.

During her time on the Supreme Court, Kelly authored several opinions of major public significance, including the court’s seminal interpretation of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act in unanimous opinion of People v Kolanek, which provided guidance regarding the medical use of marijuana in Michigan.

She also authored the lead opinion in Stand Up for Democracy v Secretary of State, which held that a referendum petition strictly complied with the relevant provisions of Michigan’s election law and, therefore, must be submitted to the voters for their consideration.

She has also written significant opinions that protect the rights of children, among them: the majority opinion in People v Likine, which held that “impossibility,” not simply the inability to pay, governs a defense to the crime of failure to pay child support.

She wrote an important dissenting opinion in People v Carp, which would have applied retroactively the constitutional requirement that juvenile offenders must receive an individualized sentencing determination that considers the offender’s youth, personal characteristics, and circumstances of the crime before being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Justice Kelly has written important opinions and made her presence felt on this bench,” Chief Justice Robert P. Young Jr. said in a statement. “In particular, my colleagues and I have appreciated the experience and insights she brought from leading the state’s largest circuit court. Justice Kelly is a good friend, and I will miss her presence on the court. I wish her well in the next phase of her career.”

Gov. Rick Snyder will name Kelly’s successor.