Interview with former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas Giles Kavanagh

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Description:

Part 1: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas G. Kavanagh relates his family history and discusses his father's work with newspapers and the Democratic Party, his own early schooling, and his first jobs in law firms. He also discusses his judicial career, starting with the newly created Court of Appeals in 1964 and then running for the Michigan Supreme Court in 1968. He provides an insiders view of the Court during his tenure and discusses the various political and personal differences that arose among the justices. Part 2: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas G. Kavanagh talks about the Justice John Swainson bribery case, his own involvement in the investigation and his view that Swainson was "framed". Kavanagh also discusses the turmoil on the Court in the mid-1970s and talks candidly about his colleagues, including Justices Mary Coleman, Charles Levin, John Fitzgerald, Thomas Brennan, Thomas M. Kavanagh, James Ryan, and Dorothy Comstock Riley. After 1976, Kavanagh says, the Court stabilzed and a new spirit of good will and collegiality was embraced by all of the justices. Kavanagh covers a wide range of general topics, including legislative apportionment, mandatory arbitration, the difficulty of campaigning for election, judicial conferences, the Michigan Supreme Court's involvement with the State Bar of Michigan and its disciplinary procedures, term limits for Chief Justices, and the selection process for Supreme Court Justices. He finishes by describing his speech to the Kalamazoo County Bar Association, which was titled, "Pot, Pornography, and Prostitution," by the program organizers.

Date Created:

1990-11-01T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Michigan State University. Libraries

Collection:

Interviews with Michigan State Supreme Court Justices

Place:

Michigan, Michigan, Michigan, Michigan, Lansing, and Michigan

Subject Topic:

Officials and employees, Judges, Judges, Elections, Officials and employees, Selection and appointment, Judges, Selection and appointment, Officials and employees, Selection and appointment, Friends and associates, Interpersonal relations, and Judicial process

Subject Name:

Kavanagh, Thomas Giles, 1917-1997, Michigan, Supreme Court, Kavanagh, Thomas Giles, 1917-1997, Swainson, John B. (John Burley), 1925-1994, Michigan, Supreme Court, Michigan, Court of Appeals, Michigan, Supreme Court, Michigan, Supreme Court, Kavanagh, Thomas Giles, and 1917-1997

Subject Genre:

Interviews, Interviews, Interviews, Trials, litigation, etc., and Biography

Language:

English

Rights:

In Copyright

URL:

https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5zm2k