Sad to See You Go--Judge Mary Beth Kelly Steps Down as Wayne County Chief Judge

Judge Mary Beth Kelly has announced she will step down as Chief Judge of the Wayne County Circuit Court. I have had cases in front of Judge Kelly and found her to be prepared, decisive, reasoned and civil. Not always qualities found in judges, or attorneys in general, for that matter. She will be missed and so will her attempts to drain the swamp.

Judge Kelly was first appointed to the bench by Governor John Engler in 1999. She was appointed Chief Judge by the Supreme Court in 2001, 2003 and again in 2005. She angered many of her colleagues with her policies. She inherited a lot of headaches from her predecessors, including budget deficits ($35 million or so), a shortage of judges, and a nightmarish Friend of the Court office, among others.

Her most visionary and potentially beneficial proposal concerned privatizing the Friend of the Court. This would have saved money and resulted in more child support money being brought in for families. This proposal really angered the union that represents Friend of the Court staff and the County Commission, all of whom evidently feel that the Wayne County Friend of the Court is operating just fine the way it is. See our previous post "Fiend of the Court May go Private".

At about that same time, Judge Kelly moved to assist Circuit Judge Deborah Thomas with her docket troubles. It seems Judge Thomas had fallen behind and, acting in accordance with a recommendation of the court's docket review committee, Judge Kelly temporarily took away Thomas' authority to handle pretrial motions (a time consuming part of the job). Judge Thomas was outraged and resistant to the move. Supporters of Judge Thomas picketed the courthouse. Evidently they felt that--like the Friend of the Court Office--Judge Thomas' court was running just fine the way it was. As usual, the rights of the parties assigned to Judge Thomas to have their cases resolved as quickly and cheaply as possible come second.

In another controversial but very bold move, Judge Kelly raised the ire of her colleagues by assuming responsibility for reviewing all legal challenges to the racial composition of Wayne County Circuit Court juries. For reasons that don't seem to be fully understood, Wayne County juries often have fewer black members than county demographics would anticipate.

But Judge Kelly's position is consistent with the rulings of the Michigan Supreme Court. In 2005 the High Court ordered that race, gender, religion or nationality were considerations that could not be used in jury selection. This decision followed efforts by Wayne County judges — including Thomas — to impanel more racially balanced juries. The Michigan Judges Association and the Michigan Department of Civil Rights opposed the Supreme Court's rule change. A 2006 study by the National Center for State Courts, based in Williamsburg, Va., found African-Americans comprised about 26 percent of jury pools in Wayne County compared to 40 percent of the area's population.

The death blow to her tenure as chief judge really came several weeks ago when her esteemed colleagues on the bench voted overwhelmingly (just as they had done in 2005) to remove her, urging the Michigan Supreme Court to appoint Circuit Judge Robert Colombo, Jr. to replace Kelly. The long knives came out and Judge Kelly finally agreed, for the good of the court, to step down. It's a pity the other judges on the circuit didn't give more of her ideas a chance to bear fruit. For the record, Judge Columbo is also a fine judge and will likely make a very good chief judge.

Kelly counts among her accomplishments: adding judges to the court's Family Division--one thing she was actually allowed to accomplish. Happily, following her departure as Chief Judge Judge Kelly will still hear family law cases after January and, hopefully, continue to tackle the ongoing funding and other intractable problems at the Friend of the Court.

No good deed--or in this case good idea--goes unpunished. Judge Kelly had a lot of good ideas, which could only improve the Wayne County Circuit Court and its bloated, inefficient appendages. Her legacy would be much larger and more far reaching had she not been stymied in her efforts at reform by the keepers of the status quo, both on and off the bench. She has colleagues on the Wayne County bench, but few peers.

See this link for a more thorough article on Judge Kelly's tenure as Chief Judge: Metro Times.