On Friday, February 16, 2024, the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission announced that it had retained the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) to conduct an independent review of racial disparities in its disciplinary decisions over the past 15 years.
The review comes after calls from the Association of Black Judges of Michigan (ABJM) and other groups for an audit of the Commission’s files from 2017 onward. In a March 2023 letter to the Michigan Supreme Court, the ABJM raised concerns that Black judges had been disproportionately prosecuted for misconduct charges compared to white judges. According to data from the association, around 16% of Michigan judges are Black but Black judges made up a majority of those charged by the Commission, particularly since 2020.
“We respectfully ask that you look into this matter to determine how the figures can be justified, absent a conclusion of racial prejudice,” the ABJM letter stated.
In response, the Commission announced on February 16 that it had engaged the National Center for State Courts to examine its investigation records from 2008 through 2022. The review will analyze cases where the Commission investigated alleged misconduct but did not result in a public disciplinary action. By examining outcomes and case dispositions, the NCSC aims to determine whether any racial disparities exist in how complaints involving Black and white judges were handled.
“While consistent with the Supreme Court’s drive for transparency in the Judiciary, this effort responds to the request made by the Association of Black Judges of Michigan and other groups,” Michigan court administrator Tom Boyd said in a statement. Other groups that called for an audit include the ACLU of Michigan, Black Women Lawyers of Michigan, and the Detroit branch of the NAACP. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer also urged such a review in a June 2023 letter.
The National Center for State Courts will now spend the next 10 months carefully examining the Commission’s closed case files from the past 15 years. It aims to deliver its findings and conclusions regarding any potential racial bias to the Commission by December 21, 2024. The results of the racial disparity review could shed light on issues of fairness and equal treatment within Michigan’s judicial disciplinary system.
