Exciting news in the Great Lakes State: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will appoint Kyra Harris Bolden to the Michigan Supreme Court! Bolden will be the first Black woman ever to serve on the state’s highest court and the first Black Justice in four years.
Bolden, 34, told MLive earlier this year that diversity on the Court would make it easier for people from marginalized communities to trust the judicial system.
“The court is not meant to be a monolith,” she said. “The people of Michigan should see themselves reflected in them, in their courts and on the highest court in Michigan.”
Bolden is a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. She clerked for Wayne County Circuit Court Judge John A. Murphy and worked for the Detroit law firm Lewis & Munday, P.C. before being elected to the legislature.
Bolden finished third in this year’s race for two seats on the Supreme Court, just 120,000 votes behind Justice Brian Zahra (R). Justice Richard Bernstein (D) finished first in that race.
Bolden will fill the spot being vacated by outgoing Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack (D), who is resigning for a new opportunity. Bolden is set to serve until 2024, when she will have to run to keep her spot for the remaining four years of McCormack’s eight-year term (2021-2029).
But unlike in 2022, Bolden will be designated on the ballot as “Justice of the Supreme Court” in 2024. That incumbency designation is a considerable advantage that challengers often struggle to overcome (which makes Bolden’s own performance against incumbent Zahra all the more remarkable). The fact that she now has that incumbency advantage puts her in good shape for 2024 — but Dems won’t take anything for granted as we defend her seat and try to flip Republican Justice David Viviano’s seat for a regular term that year.
