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- Description:
- Michigan Supreme Court Justice Lawrence Lindemer discusses the judicial selection process and his own appointment to the Court after the death of Justice Thomas M. Kavanagh. Lindemer also talks about the inner workings of the Court and the court system, including the philosophical and geographical differences among the justices, judicial activism, the importance of face to face communication and collegiality in the judicial process, the effects of the 1974 elections on judicial relations, the overall power of the Court, and the effect on justices of John Swainson's resignation in 1975. Lindemer reviews legal and social issues confronted by the Court during his tenure, including double jeopardy, taxation, sentencing guidelines, and workers compensation.
- Date Created:
- 1990-10-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Interviews with Michigan State Supreme Court Justices
- Description:
- Part 1: Michigan Supreme Court Justice George C. Edwards discusses his family history, his father, his education at Southern Methodist University and Harvard, his early jobs, serving in the military, his involvement in the labor movement, and his appointment to the Probate Court bench. He also talks about various cases heard by the Michigan Supreme Court during his tenure, including Comstock versus General Motors, Scholle versus Hare, Baker versus Carr, West Versus Norther Tree. Edwards says that he eventually resigned from the Court to become Police Commissioner of Detroit and that he has always aspired to be a writer and is currently writing a book about his father. Edwards' wife Peg joins the interview in progress. Part 2: Michigan Supreme Court Justice George C. Edwards talks about various issues and cases, including judicial selection, partisanship, juvenile injury, election recounts and the abuse of paper ballots, the People's Savings Bank, and Certain-Teed Products. He also discusses his colleagues, most notably, Justices Eugene F. Black, Talbot Smith, Leland Carr, John Voelker, and Harry Kelly.
- Date Created:
- 1990-12-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Interviews with Michigan State Supreme Court Justices
- Description:
- Part 1: Mary S. Coleman, the first woman elected to the Michigan Supreme Court and the first to serve as its Chief Justice, talks about her early life in Texas, her family's move to Washington, D.C., her parents, her father's death, her high school years, meeting Oliver Wendall Holmes, dating, attending the University of Maryland and attending law school at George Washington University, where she was often the only female in her classes. She also talks about getting her law degree in 1939, marrying her husband a few days later, starting a job at the USDA, and later moving to her husband's hometown of Marshall, Michigan to support his bid for the Michigan Senate in 1948. Part 2: Mary S. Coleman, the first woman elected to the Michigan Supreme Court and the first to serve as its Chief Justice, talks about her husband Creighton's campaign for the Michigan Senate in 1948, his legal practice, her life as a homemaker, her husband's law firm, and pursuing her own legal career in Michigan. Coleman also discusses dealing with sexism in the judicial system, the respectful way she was treated by judges, her interest in children's issues, foster care, juvenile court and social work, and how she eventually become a court referee and later, in 1960, a Probate Court judge. Coleman calls herself a "conservative" and then describes her support for the Equal Rights Amendment and other women's rights initiatives. She concludes by describing the working environment within the Court, its terrible reputation, the hostility between the justices, the divisions over workers compensation cases, the influence of unions, the Swainson scandal and its impact on the Court and her own role in deciding key cases. Part 3: Mary S. Coleman, the first woman elected to the Michigan Supreme Court and the first to serve as its Chief Justice, concludes her reminisces of her time on the Court. Coleman describes efforts to reorganize the lower court system to bring efficiency and clarity to the system, working with unions, Coleman Young, and others to influence legislation restructuring the courts and breaking with old systems of patronage and favor. Coleman also discusses fighting to get better pay for her court employees while she was a Probate judge, attempts to bring fairness and equity to pay levels across the state, the battle over reapportionment following the 1980 census, her resignation from the Court so that Governor William Milliken could appoint her replacement, various colleagues on the Court and the support from her family which she says she has enjoyed throughout her career.
- Date Created:
- 1991-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Interviews with Michigan State Supreme Court Justices
- Description:
- In an oral history interview, Michigan Supreme Court Justice and author of the novel "Anatomy of a murder", John D. Voelker, talks about growing up in Ishpeming, MI, and his education and work background, including his time as a district attorney. Voelker also discusses being appointed to the Court in 1957, running against Joseph Moynihan, Jr. for a seat that same year, how decisions are made by the justices, famous cases he heard, including People v. Hildabridle and his eventual resignation from the Court. Justice Voelker talks fondly about writing, and the books he wrote under the pseudonym Robert Traver and reads an excerpt from "Laughing whitefish" which includes a description of the Michigan Supreme Court chambers. Voelker is interviewed by Roger F. Lane.
- Date Created:
- 1990-10-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Interviews with Michigan State Supreme Court Justices