Fix our highest court

Five months ago, when I was much younger and better looking, I wrote about the shenanigans at the Michigan Supreme Court. The news then was that Elizabeth "Betty" Weaver, who was roundly hated by her fellow Republican justices, had suddenly resigned, after working out a deal with then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Weaver, who had grown sick of the infighting, etc., would quit if the governor would appoint Alton Davis, a distinguished appellate judge from Gaylord, in her place. That meant that Davis had to immediately run in November, and the Democrats placed him on the ballot. I assumed he'd win easily, since the ballot identified him as a "justice of the Supreme Court." Voters normally re-elect judges.

But I miscalculated. To oppose him, the Republicans nominated a woman named Mary Beth Kelly. For whatever reason, Michigan voters are strongly drawn to judges with Irish names. Especially the name Kelly. Mary Beth cleaned poor Alton's clock, and Republicans were back in a 4-3 majority on the high court.

Yet we hadn't heard the last of Betty Weaver. Though elected as a Republican, she had an independent streak. For years, she feuded with the so-called "gang of four," judges appointed by or closely allied to former Gov. John Engler. They voted in lockstep. Weaver voted according to how she felt the rule of law should be properly applied. When she began speaking out, the gang attempted to slap a gag order on her, which she merrily ignored.

Three years ago, she got some revenge. Then-Chief Justice Cliff Taylor, her biggest enemy, was defeated for re-election in a stunning upset. Weaver then crossed party lines and voted with the Democrats to elect another Kelly, Marilyn Kelly, chief justice.

Yet the feud continued. Last October, now off the court, Elizabeth Weaver, who had been calling for more openness on the court, did something shocking. She released transcripts of deliberations she had secretly recorded years ago. They show embarrassing things being said by various judges, most notoriously, Robert Young Jr., who the new Republican majority swiftly installed as chief justice.

In the transcripts, Young, who is African-American himself, uses the N-word. He didn't deny it, but said he was making a point, and that the bigger outrage was that Weaver had taped her colleagues without their knowledge.

Even some people who had no use for the Englerites were shocked by Betty Weaver's actions; people don't like being secretly bugged. There were suspicions she did this for political purposes. Young, after all, was also up for re-election last year. But if the revelations were designed to hurt him politically, they backfired. He was re-elected easily (the Democrats didn't nominate anyone named Kelly to run against him). Five of seven justices, including Democrat Marilyn Kelly, then voted to censure Weaver.

Lots has been written about this, but most of those writing haven't bothered to talk to Weaver. So I did. She told me she couldn't care less about being censured, and that what she did has been grossly misinterpreted.

> Email Jack Lessenberry