Justice Taylor

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#0000BF" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="044005a0exvipq.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFCC33" FACE="Copperplate Gothic Bold" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eastside Republican Club"><U><B>Home</B></U></A><B>  </B><B> </B></FONT><B>  | </B><B> </B><B> </B><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Copperplate Gothic Bold" ><B>Eastside Republican Club</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="erc_meeting_dates.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Events"><U><B>Events</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="eastside_republican_review_summary.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ERC Review"><U><B>ERC Review</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="michigan_s_13th_district.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Congressional District News"><U><B>Congressional District News</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="civic___governmental_links.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="erc_officers.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U><B>About Us</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Justice Taylor</B></div> <div> <A HREF="link_to_michigan_gop.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michigan Republicans"><U><B><IMG SRC="05358580.gif" border=0 width="88" height="88" ALT="Michigan GOP" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="michigan_s_13th_district.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Congressional District News"><U><I><B>Congressional District News</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="more_blog_sites.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="More Links!"><U><I><B>Informative Blog Sites</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="erc_testimonials.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What Theyre Saying About Us"><U><I><B>Read what they've said about us</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="erc_meeting_dates.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Events"><U><B><IMG SRC="81b871f0.gif" border=0 width="135" height="31" ALT=">>Events" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div>  <A NAME="top_of_page"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><IMG SRC="10fa2cb80.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="440" ALT="Justice Taylor is introduced by ERC chair Marti Miller" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="6" VSPACE="2"></div> <div> <I><U>New Chief Justice of Mich. Supreme Court</U></I></div> <div> <B>Michigan Justice Clifford W. Taylor</B></div> <div> <B>Advocates Limited Role for Judiciary</B></div> <div> An affable Michigan Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor opened his comments to the Eastside Republican Club April 19, 2005, with praise for a local Grosse Pointer.</div> <div> On recently being named chief justice to succeed outgoing Chief Justice Maura D. Corrigan, he said, “It's very easy to do because Justice Maura Corrigan got the Court so well organized… All I had to do was decide where in the Rotunda to put the 10 Commandments.”</div> <div> Speaking at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial, Justice Taylor recognized the many fine judges who have come from Grosse Pointe. He said, “This community is to Supreme Court justices what Virginia is U.S. Presidents!”</div> <div> Justice Taylor, a resident of suburban Lansing, discussed the Court's responsibilities under the Michigan Constitution, and its role in applying and interpreting the law. “I'm a self-described judicial conservative,” he said.</div> <div> <I><B>Limited Role of Judiciary</B></I></div> <div> Justice Taylor explained that a judicial conservative is not the same as a political conservative. “It is a person who believes in a limited role for the judiciary,” he said.</div> <div> “Is this a new idea?” he asked. To support his answer to that question, he cited statements by such founders as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.</div> <div> In support of an orderly amendment process rather than judicial usurpation, Justice Taylor quoted Washington's 1796 Farewell Address.</div> <div> If in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this in one instance may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.</div> <div> In further defense of his view, Justice Taylor added the famous words of U.S. Chief Justice Marshall who argued that constitutional changes may not “be passed at pleasure.” Marshal wrote that constitutions provide protection against oppression, therefore, “written constitutions have been regarded with so much reverence.”<IMG SRC="10f22cd90.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="217" ALT="Large crowd jams War Memorial on April 19 to hear Justice Taylor" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="6" VSPACE="2"></div> <div> <I><B>Two Systems of Government</B></I></div> <div> Yet, according to Justice Taylor, there are those who advocate a “living” constitution, and argue, “We must not be governed by the dead hand of the past.”</div> <div> By accepting that philosophy, he said, courts abandon the prescribed amendment process in favor of subtle changes implemented through “extra-constitutional” means such as the subjective introduction by judges of cultural values, moral evolution, welfare rights, public morality, and a judge's personal preference. Such practices “break faith with the ratifiers of the constitution,” he said.</div> <div> Justice Taylor said emphatically, “This is not an academic dispute, but a question of who is going to govern! It is a dispute over two different systems of government.”</div> <div> He asked, rhetorically, “Why would there be any enthusiasm for a judicial oligarchy?”</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="258" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFF80 HEIGHT= 614 WIDTH="242"><div> <B>About Michigan's Supreme Court</B></div> <div> The Supreme Court is Michigan's court of last resort, consisting of seven justices.</div> <div> Supreme Court justices are elected for eight-year terms. Candidates are nominated by political parties and are elected on a nonpartisan ballot. Two justices are elected every two years (one in the eighth year) in the November election. Supreme Court candidates must be qualified electors, licensed to practice law in Michigan for at least five years, and at the time of election must be less than 70 years of age. Vacancies are filled by appointment of the Governor until the next general election.</div> <div> Cases come before the Court during a term that starts August 1 and runs through July 31 of the following year. The Court hears oral arguments in Lansing beginning in October of each term. Decisions are released throughout the term, following oral arguments.</div> <div> Each year, the Supreme Court receives over 2,000 applications for leave to appeal from litigants primarily seeking review of decisions by the Michigan Court of Appeals. Each justice is responsible for reviewing each case to determine whether leave should be granted. The Court issues a decision in all cases filed with the Clerk's Office. Cases that are accepted for oral argument may be decided by an order, with or without an opinion. These orders may affirm or reverse the Michigan Court of Appeals, may remand a case to the trial court, or may adopt a correct Court of Appeals opinion.</div> <div> The Supreme Court's authority to hear cases is discretionary. The Court grants leave to those cases of greatest complexity and public import, where additional briefing and oral argument are essential to reaching a just outcome.</div> <div> In addition to its judicial duties, the Supreme Court is responsible for the general administrative supervision of all courts in the state. The Supreme Court also establishes rules for practice and procedure in all courts.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> Justice Taylor explained that judicial activists want citizens to believe it is impossible to operate from a judicial conservative point of view. He said these activists ask such questions as, “Isn't the amendment process too cumbersome?” Or, “Haven't citizens acquiesced to this form of judicial interpretation?”</div> <div> He said it is very dangerous to allow judges “Simply to pour their own values into an empty vessel, our constitution.”</div> <div> <I><B>Michigan Judiciary Sound</B></I></div> <div> If the alternative is an activist court, Justice Taylor proclaimed, “The Michigan Supreme Court is the most prominent judicialist court in the U.S.”</div> <div> In response to a question from the audience he complemented the Michigan judiciary. Justice Taylor compared Michigan's judiciary, comprised of more than 600 judges, to other States, declaring Michigan courts to be sound and free of corruption.</div> <div> When asked about overturning existing court precedent, Justice Taylor said, “You take an oath to defend the constitution, not to protect the past judges.” He said, ”This is a government not of judges, but of legislators!” Yet he added, the court overturns very few precedents because an orderly government should provide people with a high degree of “predictability” of judicial outcomes.</div> <div> <I><B>Election as Chief Justice</B></I></div> <div> In January 2005, his Michigan Supreme Court colleagues selected Justice Taylor as the Court's Chief Justice. At that time six of the seven Justices voted to elect Taylor, with only Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver dissenting.<IMG SRC="10abbc8d0.jpg" border=0 width="188" height="141" ALT="Chief Justice Taylor" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="8" VSPACE="4"></div> <div> Every two years, the Justices elect one of their colleagues to serve in that capacity for a two-year term. According to the Court's custom, a Chief Justice generally serves no more than two consecutive two-year terms.</div> <div> Justice Taylor thanked his colleagues in January, saying he was “both humbled and profoundly honored by their choice of me as Chief Justice. I will strive every day to merit their confidence and carry on the best traditions of the Chief Justices who preceded me.”</div> <div> He also praised outgoing Chief Justice Maura Corrigan, who served four years as Chief Justice, beginning in January 2001. “She is an exemplary steward of the public trust, and she has had a lasting impact for good, particularly in the arena of child welfare,” he said. “She has saved Michigan taxpayers millions of dollars by leading a successful conversion to a statewide child support enforcement computer system, as just one example.”</div> <div> <I><B>Education & Professional Background</B></I></div> <div> Justice Taylor, a native of Flint, received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1964 and a law degree from George Washington University in 1967. After three years in the U.S. Navy as a line officer, he returned to Michigan and served as assistant prosecuting attorney in Ingham County. In 1972, he joined the Lansing law firm of Denfield, Timmer and Seelye, which later became Denfield, Timmer & Taylor when Taylor became a partner. He remained in private practice for 20 years until his 1992 appointment to the Michigan Court of Appeals by Governor John Engler.</div> <div> In August 1997, Engler appointed Taylor to the Michigan Supreme Court to fill the seat vacated by retired Justice Dorothy Comstock Riley. In 1998, Justice Taylor ran and was elected to fill the balance of Riley's term. He was re-elected in 2000 to a full eight-year term, which expires January 1, 2009.</div> <div> Justice Taylor's professional activities include serving on the Michigan State Board of Law Examiners, of which he was president from 1995-1996. He has served on the Michigan State Bar's Standing Committee on Character and Fitness and the Commission on the Courts in the 21st Century. A fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation, he is also a member of the Catholic Lawyers Guild and the Federalist Society's Michigan chapter. His community activities include having served as a leader in the Boy Scouts; he is also a board member of the Michigan Dyslexia Institute.</div> <div> Justice Taylor resides in Laingsburg with his wife, Lucille.</div> <div> >><A HREF="erc_meeting_dates.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Events"><U><I>More events</I></U></A>.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#top_of_page" TITLE="Justice Taylor"><U>back to top</U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>