Weren’t we all brought up by the admonition that "if you don’t have anything nice to say… don’t say anything at all"? Yes, I am talking to you Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bob Young. Let’s look at some of your embarrassing and unnecessary tirades:
First, in O’Neal v St Hospital & Medical Center, Justice Young charges Justice Cavanaugh of feigning unawareness, and the majority as a whole of excessive pride ("spectacularly hubristic feat"). He takes Chief Justice Kelly’s out-of-court statement as the stepping stone for his rebukes. He follows it up with direct attacks on Justice Hathaway’s opinion and again uses out of court statements as the foundation for his attacks.
Then, in Regents v Titan Ins Co, Justice Young goes back on the attack, again singling out Justice Hathaway and using her out-of-court statements as his ammunition. He also attacks Justice Weaver because he finds that her decision in this case contradicted a prior dissent she gave in a case decided in 2005. Nevermind that that dissent was nuanced, having to do with a specific type of problem on the retroactivity of new law, and that Michigan law under the Gang of Four continued to get progressively worse for justice from 2005 until the end of 2008. Apparently, he was upset when Justice Weaver quoted him word-for-word from a law review article he wrote, that showed his true colors, that he felt compelled to refer in generalities to Justice Weaver’s opinions and conclude matter-of-factly how bad of a judge she was being. But perhaps it is his persistent personal attacks on Chief Justice Kelly, not having to do with her written opinions or authored scholarly articles, that make you wonder if Justice Young wouldn’t benefit from using a professional moderator.
It seems that Justice Young might benefit from a professional who knows how to manage group dynamics and won’t allow a difficult participant to ruin the group. Maybe someone who is paid to handle sensitive topics with diplomacy would be a useful teacher for Justice Young, who seems content with being upset that he is not a part of the Gang of Justice.
