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1. Interview with former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. Brennan

Description:
Part 1: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. Brennan talks about his family history, his father and mother, attending Catholic school, and the University of Detroit Law School, opening his own law practice, being elected to the Common Pleas Court, being appointed to the Circuit Court by Governor Romney in 1963, being elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1966, and becoming Chief Justice in 1969. Brennan says that practicing law prepared him well for the rigors of being a judge. Justice Brennan also discusses what he calls "the myth of non-partisanship, the nature of democracy, the political nature of the selection of Chief Justice, the notion of representation in a democracy, the nature of leadership, the establishment of the State Appellate Defenders Office, the creation of the State Bar Grievance Board in 1969, the election process for judges in the Detroit area, the establishment of a Criminal division of the Detroit District Court, economic stability, civil disorder, and the 1967 race riots in Detroit. Part 2: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas Brennan talks about judicial activism and the prospective vs. retrospective changing of Common Law, using humor in writing court opinions, and making decisions by law or by conscience in a judicial context and whether his Catholicism is an issue in performing his public duties. Brennan also discusses the controversy surrounding his founding of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing and the school's mission of offering practical scholarship to a broad and diverse study body. Part 3: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. Brennan talks about a case concerning the apportionment of the Michigan Legislature in the 1970s, having his portrait presented to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1980, and his activities since leaving the court in 1973.
Date Created:
1991-01-01T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Michigan State University. Libraries
Collection:
Interviews with Michigan State Supreme Court Justices

2. Interview with former Michigan Supreme Court Clerk Harold Hoag

Description:
Part 1: Harold Hoag shares stories of his time as Deputy Clerk and Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court between 1967 and 1982. Hoag talks about deciding to become a lawyer while in the Navy, his law school experience, the role of the law clerk in the judicial process,and the Supreme Court Justices he served under, and how they dealt with cases and how he interacted with each. He also discusses the effect the addition of female justices had on the Court, the law in general, and the history of law enforcement in the United States. Hoag ends by reminiscing about his parents and his childhood. Part 2: Harold Hoag, clerk and Deputy Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court talks about the duties of the clerk, his desire to conduct his office in as apolitical a manner as possible, the partisan nature of the court, shepherding cases through the system and assigning them to the justices by lottery, hiring his own assistant when the case load became to much to bear, and playing "gatekeeper" in the face of the appeals process. Hoag says that the justices have become more like "CEOs and less like judges" as the work load has increased and they have been forced to bring in more clerks and other staff to manage the extreme caseloads. Hoag concludes by recalling the women justices with whom he worked and his legal training at the University of Michigan, and explaining how he came to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Date Created:
2006-03-27T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Michigan State University. Libraries
Collection:
Interviews with Michigan State Supreme Court Justices