Deborah Thomas

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Deborah Thomas, a Wayne County Circuit Court Judge launched a solo campaign earlier this year for the Michigan Supreme Court. Thomas was hoping to get the Democratic Party's nod to face off against sitting Chief Justice Clifford Taylor, a man the party has spent months demonizing in the press. The party decided at their state convention on September 6th that Diane Hathaway would instead run for Taylor's seat.

Thomas was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She attended Detroit Public Schools, and graduated from Cass Technical High School with a diploma in Clothing and Textile.

Education and experience

Education

After graduating from Cass Technical High School, she was accepted at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She was there from 1970 to 1973, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Education. Upon graduation, she returned to Detroit to teach in the public schools. When she was unable to gain employment, she began studies at the University of Detroit in Criminal Justice and Family Counseling in 1974. In 1975, Thomas attended Valparaiso University. While attending Valparaiso, she participated in the Moot Court competition, Law Review, and served as the National Vice President of the Black American Law Students Association. As national vice president, Thomas authored the Rules and Procedures for the Fredrick Douglas Moot Court which was established as BALSA‘s official national moot court competition the year prior by now Judge Cynthia Stephens.

Additionally, Thomas conducted and published a historical/analytical study of Affirmative Action and the experiences of Black Law Students. This scholarly work became her Masters thesis at the University of Detroit.[1]

Legal experience

Judge Deborah Thomas
Judge Deborah Thomas
Thomas began her legal career at Oakland County Legal Aid Society, and remained there for two years. After that, she worked for the United Auto Workers Legal Services Plan with the Chrysler Division for two years. At UAW Legal Services, she assisted in setting up the family division, real estate division and the bankruptcy division for services to members of the UAW. She then went to work with Michigan Employment Security Commission, Michigan Department of Labor. Employed as an Administrative Law Examiner, Thomas represented the Commission at administrative hearings, drafted proposed legislation, and worked in the implementation of the Trade Retraining Act (TRA), a federal established to provide employment training of displaced auto workers. During those same years (1980-1983) she was an instructor with the American Institute for Para Legal Studies, teaching family law, real estate law, and legal writing and research.

In 1983, Thomas began work for the Southeast Michigan Transportation Authority (S.E.M.T.A.), the regional public transportation bus service for communities surrounding the City of Detroit. As Assistant General Counsel, she provided legal services in labor law, civil rights litigation, and advised in public administration practices, policies and procedures. She left this employer to begin her own legal practice which was in the field of family law, juvenile law, probate law, criminal law and general civil law. During these years she served as a Mediator with the Wayne County Probate Court and ran for election to the Detroit City Council. The 1984 city council race was Thomas' first campaign for public office.

The citizens of Wayne County elected Thomas to the Wayne County Circuit Court in 1994 where she continues to serve. This 2008 election for the Supreme Court is not her first: in 2004, Judge Thomas ran for Michigan Supreme Court with $28,000 in campaign contributions.[2] In that year, she placed third, losing by 12,000 votes.[3]

Awards and associations

Thomas is a member of Elks, Black Women Lawyers, and YWCA. She is on the Board of Trustees for the NAACP. She has also been commended for outstanding community service by the American Bar Association, the Michigan Women Foundation, and the Michigan Bar Association.[4]

Political affiliation and campaign contributions

Democrat.[5]

Judicial philosophy

"The Courts belong to the people. The people must be involved in the Courts. The Courts must continue to protect the rights of the people and insure that the members of our free society enjoy life liberty and the pursuit of happiness in a safe, healthy, and predictable environment where justice for ALL the people ALL the time is the standard ALL the time."[6]

Thomas's 2008 Supreme Court bid

Democratic Party continues search

While the Democratic party oligarchy continues its desperate search for a different Supreme Court candidate to challenge Clifford Taylor, one of Thomas's campaign managers has said he's looking forward to full-out battle on the convention floor.

"We’re looking forward to a full floor fight at the state convention," said Roderick Casey, Thomas's Washtenaw County campaign chairman. "Judge Thomas has been working hard and has shown her values; she is really dedicated. Deborah’s a true soldier; any opponent will be lucky if anything is left of them on the floor after Deborah gets through. We are calling on all registered, dues-paying Democrats to come to Lansing Sept. 6 to support Judge Thomas.”

Other Thomas supporters have voiced their disappointment concerning the party's reticence. Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson has said, "I am very disappointed, because I fully expected Judge Thomas to get the MDP’s support. She has earned it. She has traveled across the state, and has been the acknowledged leader in the battle for respect and equality in the judicial system, and in organizing citizens to demand accountability."

The party has withheld its support from Thomas, possibly considering she has been accused of being “anti-police” and “anti-prosecution," has been singled out for allegedly taking too long on trials, and is the only judge in the state who is not allowed to be a part of pre-trail hearings any more. A "professionalism complaint" could also have her removed from the bench altogether. [7][8]

Thomas on Court nomination

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Deborah Thomas is looking for another chance to run for the Michigan Supreme Court. She's seeking the Democratic nomination to run against incumbent Justice Clifford Taylor in November 2008. Thomas was one of two Democrats nominated for the state's highest court in 2004, but she failed to win a seat. She had unsuccessfully sought the nomination in 2000. Thomas says she's running in part because she thinks the Supreme Court's Republican majority has restricted access to the court and unduly limited the size of jury awards. She declined to directly criticize Taylor, who has been on the court since 1997. But she added, "I would go so far to say we differ greatly." Last summer, Thomas received a three-page rebuke from the Wayne County Circuit Court's Docket Review Committee. It said she had the most cases pending and fewest cases tried among the court's judges, and had too many delays. Thomas said that she doesn't always have the evidence or other materials she needs to proceed as fast as court rules dictate. Attorney J. Martin Brennan has also said he would like another shot at the court seat. He ran unsuccessfully in the 2002 Supreme Court race as a Democratic nominee. The race will also include Libertarian candidate Robert Roddis of Grosse Pointe Farms.[9]

Democrats skeptical?

Democrats are seeking to change the makeup of the court. Four of the seven justices are firmly-committed strict constructionists: Chief Justice Clifford Taylor (two-time Republican U.S. House candidate and Federalist Society member), Maura Corrigan (boomed by the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol and other conservatives for the Supreme Court seat that eventually went to Samuel Alito), Stephen Markman (onetime assistant U.S. Attorney General under Reagan and professor at Hillsdale College), and Robert Young, Jr. (former general counsel to AAA Michigan and the lone African American on the court). Rounding out the court are two decidedly liberal, Democratic-named justices--Marilyn Jean Kelly and Michael Cavanagh, brother of the late Detroit Mayor (1961-69) Jerome Cavanagh--and Elizabeth Weaver, a Republican appointee who almost always rules with Kelly and Cavanagh. The statewide election to reconfirm justices for an eight-year term has taken on major significance and may become the biggest battle in Michigan this year.

With Justice Clifford Taylor the only justice on the ballot, Democrats, organized labor, trial lawyers and left-of-center sources of money have been expected to make his defeat a top priority. Reform Michigan Government Now, which was constructed by the United Auto Workers to restructure the Michigan government, has been gathering support and signatures to put the proposal to vote. Were the chief justice to lose, the balance of the court that conservatives in Michigan refer to as "The court Ronald Reagan really wanted" would tilt toward Democratic judicial activism. Democrats are having a difficult time finding a candidate they can support. Earlier in 2008, there were significant rumors of former Democratic Governor (1982-90) James Blanchard making a comeback by running for the court against Taylor. Blanchard finally decided against the race, as did fellow Democrat Marietta Robinson, who lost to Taylor in 2000 by a margin of 54% to 38% statewide. That leaves Wayne County Circuit Judge Deborah Thomas, who raised only $28,000 in a losing bid for another Supreme Court seat in 2004. Both Democratic Party elders and union leaders are reportedly skeptical of fielding Thomas as their standard-bearer against Taylor and, sources say, in a desperate search for another court candidate to nominate at their September convention.[10]

Video clips

Posted July, 2008: Quotes:

  • "I'm a firm supporter of the Constitution."
  • "The public is not aware of these changes [to the law]...so the first things we want to do is educate. Then we want to find out what your talents are. Everyone has a talent. If your talent is making rap songs, we want you to make a rap song about the Constitution. If your talent is quilting, we want you to make a quilt about the Bill of Rights...if your talent is whistling, whistle 'My Country 'Tis of Thee'..."
  • Judge Thomas also comments on being the only judge in the state of Michigan denied pretrial rights.
  • Off the Record (Television) Interview: Part I
  • Off the Record: Part II

Thomas charges racism

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Deborah Thomas, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Beverley Nettles-Nickerson, and Detroit’s 36th District Court Judge Jeannette O’Banner-Owens believe that they are fighting against majority white juries sending blacks to prison and prison overcrowding. Additionally, they have faced investigations and charges from the Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC), as well as the threat of removal from the bench by the Michigan Supreme Court, which they believe is a racial issue. O'Banner-Owens died July 27, 2008, and while her attorney, Philip Thomas, believes that “she really died of a broken heart, after years of attacks,” O’Banner-Owens, 62, died due to lung disease. In 2004, Judge Thomas challenged the disproportionate number of whites on Wayne County Circuit Court juries. Her order in that case led to two studies showing Blacks make up 27 percent of jury panels in the county, while the county’s population is 42 percent African-American. The second study, by the National Center for State Courts, found systematic exclusion of Blacks including the permanent removal from the eligible list of anyone who fails to return a jury questionnaire. While Thomas has challenged the racial figures in the courtroom, she has been reprimanded for not ensuring the Sixth Amendment, or a speedy trial, to the public. Thomas also faces a Judicial Tenure investigation, challenging some of her rulings as anti-police and anti-prosecution. Thomas has filed for a writ of superintending control from the state Supreme Court. She says two of the JTC members, Michael Talbot and Nancy Diehl, have personally opposed her rulings in their capacities on the appeals court and in the prosecutor’s office.[11]

Thomas has said the Commission informed her they were concerned with whether she understands state laws. The decision to deny her pre-trail hearings came from the Chief Judge of the Wayne County Circuit Court, Mary Beth Kelly, which followed a "stern, three-page rebuke by the court's Docket Review Committee in June that paints Thomas as a chronic laggard."

"Although corrective action in the past (12 years) has not resulted in permanent improvement, the Committee feels compelled to try again. ... [We] expect you to be here every day and to work your docket," the committee wrote.[12]

Thomas blames media in Kwame controversy

Wayne County Circuit Judge Deborah Thomas, a candidate for the Michigan Supreme Court, said she fears for Detroit’s stability because of the strain caused by the scandals surrounding Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Thomas, who is African American, invoked memories of living in Detroit as an adolescent during the 1967 riot. She said while the controversy over the mayor probably won’t spark a civil disturbance, it has put residents on edge. Thomas deflected questions of whether Kilpatrick should resign, although she said she was surprised at the speed of court rulings which allowed the release of controversial text messages between the mayor and others, which lie at the heart of the scandal. Thomas said it would be better for the city’s collective mental health to focus on the 2009 mayoral election, and to have potential candidates emerge to vigorously debate issues, perhaps even changes in the city’s charter. “It would be more peaceful for the community. We would not be sniping at each other so much,” she said. She added that the community and the media should “calm down a bit, don’t stir the pot so vigorously.”

Thomas was an unsuccessful Democratic-nominated candidate for the state Supreme Court in 2004. With 14 years as a Wayne County Circuit Court judge, she is vying for the nomination this year to challenge the high court’s chief justice, Cliff Taylor, who she said presides over a court that, through its rulings on criminal and consumer matters, has taken away ordinary citizens’ rights to justice through the court system.[13]

Judge removed from pretrial hearings

A Wayne County circuit judge blamed for repeatedly working too slowly has been stripped of a key pretrial duty and faces a professionalism complaint that could have her removed from the bench altogether. Judge Deborah Thomas is no longer allowed to handle pretrial motions, a rare administrative move intended to help speed the flow of cases on her docket. Motion hearings are routine before criminal trials and often determine what evidence will be allowed in a trial and can lead to plea agreements. While Thomas continues to handle felony trials, she said the state's Judicial Tenure Commission is also reviewing 27 cases in which she was reversed by appeals courts in the past five years. The commission, Thomas said, is concerned with whether she understands the state's laws. A spokesman for the commission declined to comment. The decision by Mary Beth Kelly, the chief judge of Wayne Circuit Court, to take away pre-trial hearings follows a stern, three-page rebuke by the court's Docket Review Committee in June that paints Thomas as a "chronic laggard." Although corrective action in the past (12 years) has not resulted in permanent improvement, the Committee feels compelled to try again," the letter said. Thomas has the most cases pending, the fewest cases tried and has too many delays, the letter said. "We expect you to be here every day and to work your docket," the committee wrote, adding that it is considering filing its own complaint to the Judicial Tenure Commission.

Thomas, a circuit judge since 1995, said there is too much emphasis on processing cases quickly and said the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has helped slow her cases because they insist on juries rather than allow her to decide a matter. "I believe in speedy trials but not in rushed cases," Thomas said.[14]

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ Judge Deborah Thomas: About
  2. ↑ Judge Deborah Thomas: About
  3. ↑ Judge Thomas Battles for High Court
  4. ↑ Voters' Guide
  5. ↑ Saginaw Democratic Club
  6. ↑ Deborah Thomas for Supreme Court
  7. ↑ Judge Thomas Battles for High Court
  8. ↑ Courthouse Forum
  9. ↑ Wayne County Judge Thomas wants Supreme Court nomination
  10. ↑ Court Fight in Michigan
  11. ↑ The Michigan Citizen: America's Most Progressive Community Newspaper
  12. ↑ Courthouse Forum
  13. ↑ Free Press
  14. ↑ Courthouse Forum
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