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In November, you will have the opportunity to elect three women to the Michigan Supreme Court; family advocate Bridget Mary McCormack, Judge Connie Kelley, and Judge Shelia Johnson. I have been a lawyer in Michigan for over 27 years and enough is enough. I like Justices Steven Markman and Brian Zahra personally, but they have to go. They vote more often than not for the 2% – doctors, hospitals, corporations, and insurance companies – to the detriment of victims and survivors of their negligent behavior. Justice Markman appointed me to the Michigan Supreme Court Civil Jury Instruction Committee and I served with then-Court of Appeals Judge Brian Zahra. As I said, I like them personally but we need new blood. They have to go.

Family advocate Bridget Mary McCormack has demonstrated throughout her career the vital characteristics of who we need as a Michigan Supreme Court Justice. She is a veteran litigator and legal educator. She is a law professor and the Dean for Clinical Affairs at the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor. She has received the Patriot Award for her work to uphold American constitutional values and the Justice For All Award for her work as founder and co-director of the Michigan Innocence Clinic. Over the course of her legal career, she has served as trial counsel at the Legal Aid Society and then the Office of the Appellate Defender. She taught at Yale Law School and founded and is co-director of the Michigan Innocence Clinic. She also launched a pediatric advocacy law clinic focusing on children with health problems and a domestic violence clinic.

Likewise, both Judge Connie Kelley and Shelia Johnson have time and again shown why they should be Michigan Supreme Court Justices.

During the male-dominated Michigan Supreme Court era, the Court has been recognized as a failure by multiple respected, unbiased scholarly reviews. The University of Chicago said during their reign that Michigan’s highest court lacked judicial independence, resulting in favorable verdicts for businesses.

It is time for a change. November will give you the chance to make the court more responsible to PEOPLE. In November remember: Don’t give your ballot back until you vote for Kelley, Johnson, and McCormack. It takes three.

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