Justice Young

<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 Young</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="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></div> <div> <I><U>Examining the Constitutional Role of Judiciary</U></I></div> <div> <B>Supreme Court </B><B>Justice Robert Young</B></div> <div> <B>Explains Battle to Replace the "Rule of Law"</B></div> <div> “There is a war going on right here in our courts,” declared Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert P. Young, Jr., speaking on May 18 to the Eastside Republican Club Forum at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial in Grosse Pointe Farms.<IMG SRC="19bfe6310.jpg" border=0 width="230" height="305" ALT="Justice Robert Young" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="8" VSPACE="8"></div> <div> Following his introduction by fellow Justice Maura Corrigan, Justice Young explained that the battle he fights is over who gets to govern our society, “We the people or the judges.”</div> <div> Enemies of this rule of law, Justice Young said, are judges who take sides and actually make policy contrary to the express language of the statutes enacted by the people's representatives, the legislature.</div> <div> “Empathy sounds good,” he said, but ultimately leads to what the <I>Wall Street Journal</I> called “the creation of novel rights.”</div> <div> Justice Young, who is running for re-election to Michigan's highest court, is now one of a three judge, rule-of-law minority on the court, and labels the current majority on the Michigan Supreme Court as the “empathy” majority.</div> <div> He reported that since the last General Election, the new court has moved aggressively and openly to undo decisions of the prior rule of law majority.<IMG SRC="19e15e2e0.jpg" border=0 width="350" height="302" ALT="Justice Young, right, greets audience members after June Forum" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="6" VSPACE="6"></div> <div> Justice Young, who has been a member of the Michigan Supreme Court since 1999, told the Forum that he views a judge's role as interpreting the law according to the plain meaning of the words.</div> <div> He demonstrated by quoting how our President thinks judges should function. According to Justice Young and documented by <A HREF="http://www.barackobama.com/2007/07/17/obama_on_judges_supreme_court.php" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.barackobama.com/2007/07/17/ob"><U>barackobama.com</U></A>, the President announced, “We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."</div> <div> <I><B>Skin Color or Merit?</B></I></div> <div> Justice Young asked, “Why would one's gender or skin color have anything to do with the legal merits of a case?”</div> <div> “Should a judge ever decide in favor of a party because of who he is rather than on the legal merits of his case? Almost any child would answer 'no,' because we all understand that empathy for one party means bias against the other.”</div> <div> As an example, Justice Young explained that the Michigan Constitution straightforwardly prevents the government from taking private property, real estate, except for public use.<IMG SRC="19e35e5b0.jpg" border=0 width="350" height="347" ALT="John Hauler, candidate for 13th district U.S. representative, Jermain Lee Jones, candidate for 5th district state representative, and Andrew Richner, chairman U of M Board of Regents" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="6" VSPACE="6"></div> <div> Consequently, allowing confiscation of private property for any other purpose would be a subversion of the people's will.</div> <div> He asked, “Is it okay to ignore the clear language of our constitution?”</div> <div> Justice Young cited <I>Wayne County v Hathcock</I>, a decision he wrote, saying, “We protected your constitutional right to keep your property from being taken by the government so it could be given to someone else. We reversed <I>Poletown</I> which had written this property right almost entirely out of our constitution.”</div> <div> In deciding between judicial candidates, Justice Young offered voters this litmus test question for prospective judges: “Which justice of the Michigan Supreme Court has a judicial philosophy closest to your own?”</div> <div> He observed that if the candidate doesn't know who currently sits on the Michigan Supreme Court, then the voter can be sure that candidate is not ready for the bench.</div> <div> But if the judicial candidate identifies with any justice other than Justice Corrigan, Markman or Young, he said, “walk away quickly--you've identified an 'empathy' judge.”</div> <div> These three rule-of-law justices, he said, “are to liberals like sun light is to a vampire.”</div> <div> During the audience question and answer period he offered his caution about the push from “progressives” like George Soros who would extinguish the election of Michigan judges by the people, a right guaranteed by the Michigan Constitution.</div> <div> Justice Young added that a so-called “merit selection” process would likely be used to reduce the number of rule of law judges serving.</div> <div> He urged voters to remember to vote on the non-partisan section of the General Election ballot.</div> <div> As a part of his campaign for reelection, Justice Young invited supporters to “Friend” him on his <A HREF="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-Robert-P-Young-Jr/295755967518" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-Ro"><U>Facebook page</U></A>, and to stay in touch via e-mail.</div> <div> <I><B>Justice Young's Background</B></I></div> <div> Before joining the Supreme Court, Justice Young served as a judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals, to which he was appointed in 1995 and elected in 1996.</div> <div> Justice Young graduated in 1974 from Harvard College with honors and from Harvard Law School in 1977. In 1978, he joined the law firm of Dickinson, Wright, Moon, Van Dusen & Freeman, becoming a partner in the firm in 1982. From 1992, until he joined the Court of Appeals, Justice Young was the vice president, corporate secretary, and general counsel of AAA Michigan. </div> <div> The jurist's community activities include service as a member of the Advisory Board of the United Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit and Vista Maria.</div> <div> He has also served as a trustee of charitable and civic organizations devoted to children's interests, such as the Detroit Institute of Children, The Detroit Historical Society, and the Governor's Task Force on Children's Justice Concerning Child Abuse and Neglect.</div> <div> Justice Young is also a former commissioner of the Michigan Civil Service Commission, a former trustee of Central Michigan University, University Liggett School, Grosse Pointe Academy and a former chair of the Greater Detroit Chamber of Commerce Leadership Detroit program. He has served on the boards of many other civic and business organizations.</div> <div> He has been an adjunct professor at Wayne State University Law School for a number of years and is a co-editor of <I>Michigan Civil Procedure During Trial, 2d Ed</I>.<B> </B>(Michigan Institute of Continuing Legal Education, 1989) and <I>Michigan Civil Procedure</I>, (Michigan Institute of Continuing Legal Education, 1999).</div> <div> In 2001 and 1999, Justice Young was awarded honorary degrees respectively from Michigan State University and Central Michigan University. In 1999, Justice Young was named Detroit Country Day School 's Alumnus of the Year.</div> <div> The Eastside Republican Club Forum is normally held on the third Tuesday of the month from September through June. Admission is free and the public is always welcome.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#top_of_page" TITLE="Justice Young"><U>back to top</U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>