Michael Cavanagh
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Michael F. Cavanagh is a justice on the Michigan Supreme Court. His current term expires January 1, 2015. Justice Cavanagh was elected to the court in 1982 and won re-election in 1990, 1998, and 2006. He served as the court's Chief Justice from 1991-95. Cavanagh was originally nominated to run for a seat on the court by the state's Democratic Party.
Cavanagh received a bachelor's degree from the University of Detroit in 1962 and his law degree from the University of Detroit Law School in 1966.
He began his career as a law clerk for the Michigan Court of Appeals. In 1967, Justice Cavanagh was hired as an assistant city attorney for the City of Lansing and thereafter was appointed as Lansing City Attorney, serving until 1969. He then became a partner in the Lansing law firm of Farhat, Burns and Story, P.C. In 1971, he was elected judge of the 54-A District Court. Justice Cavanagh was then elected to the Michigan Court of Appeals, where he served from 1975-1982. At that time, he was the youngest person ever elected to the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Awards and civic activities
Justice Cavanagh has served as Chairman of the Board of the American Heart Association, Past President of the Incorporated Society of Irish/American Lawyers, Board of Directors of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, and the Commission on the Future of the University of Detroit Mercy . He is a Member of the Institute of Judicial Administration, New York University Law School. He has served as Vice President of the Conference of Chief Justices, Chair of the National Interbranch Conference of Funding the State Courts, and member of the National Center for State Courts Court Improvement Program. Other appointments include the Michigan Justice Project, Chairman of the Judicial Planning Committee, Michigan Crime Commission, Judicial Coordinating Committee, and Chair of the Sentencing Guidelines Committee. Justice Cavanagh is the Supervising Justice of the Michigan Judicial Institute. He was instrumental in the planning and building the Michigan Hall of Justice. He has served as the court's liaison to the Michigan Indian Tribal Courts/Michigan State Courts since 1990, and has attended many national Indian Law conferences and participated in Federal Bar Association Tribal Court symposiums.[1]
Election campaigns
In his 2006 re-election bid, Cavanagh ran as a non-partisan (per Michigan's method of judicial selection), but was endorsed by the Democratic Party. That year, his campaign raised $307,738. Of that sum, lawyers and lobbyists contributed $171,772, the Michigan Auto Workers chipped in with $34,000, and the Michigan Education Association gave $33,990.[2]
Notable opinions
City layoffs
In July of 2008, Justice Cavanagh dissented from the Supreme Court's ruling that an injunction by the Oakland County Circuit Court to stop layoffs of Pontiac firefighters should not have been issued. According to The Oakland Press, the ruling was that the circuit court "abused its discretion by granting injunctive relief." Justices Robert Young, Jr., Maura Corrigan, Stephen Markman and Chief Justice Clifford Taylor voted against upholding the injunction. Justices Marilyn Jean Kelly and Elizabeth Weaver voted with Cavanagh to uphold the injunction.[3]
Waterway rights
Marilyn Kelly and Michael Cavanagh dissented from Michigan Supreme Court's ruling that the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation has no standing to sue to protect waterways that Nestle Waters North America draws from. Justice Elizabeth Weaver wrote the decision is an "assault" on the rights of residents to protect the state's natural resources, and fellow justices, Marilyn Kelly and Michael Cavanagh relied on a theory that bodies of water are interconnected, according to Michigan Live.[4]
Inadmissable evidence
In a 2006 case, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the First Amendment does not protect a six-year sexual harassment case from dismissal because the plaintiff and her attorneys ignored a judge's warning not to publicize an expunged criminal conviction. The high court decision reversed a ruling from the Michigan Court of Appeals. Cavanagh was one of three dissenting justices, and wrote one of the two minority opinions in the case.[5]
Affirmative action petition
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in 2006 that the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative should appear on the statewide ballot. The majority opinion written by Markman said, "The signers of these petitions did not sign the oral representations made to them by circulators; rather they signed written petitions that contained the actual language of the (ballot question). In carrying out the responsibilities of self-government, 'we the people' of Michigan are responsible for our own actions...[a person who signed the petition] ...cannot blame others when he signs a petition without knowing what it says." Cavanagh and Marilyn Kelly dissented from the court majority and said they would have granted an appeal.[6]
External links
- City PULSE's 2006 endorsement of Judge Cavanagh
- League of Women Voters: 2006 Voters Guide
- NNBD.com
- Project Vote Smart
- Michigan Liberal
- Court rules on Haley's Censure
- Michigan Court Rules Against Firefighter Unions
- General Election Results, 2006
- 2006 General Election
- 1998 Ballot for general election
- Michigan harassment case ends with published evidence
- League of Women Voters: Supreme Court Campaign 2006
References
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