Michigan Supreme Court Candidate William (Bill) Murphy.

DEARBORN —  Michigan Supreme Court Candidate William (Bill) Murphy criticized the amount of money being poured into the judicial elections.

“The seat for the supreme court should not come with a for sale sign,” he told The Arab American News in an interview last week. 

More than $1.2 million have been spent on ads for the Michigan Supreme Court elections.

Murphy, 68, is the chief judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals. He was nominated by the Democratic Party and is facing fellow democratic nominee, attorney Richard Bernstein; Republican nominees incumbent Justice Brian Zahra and Kent County Circuit Court Judge James R. Redford; and Natural Law Party nominee Doug Dern. The highest two vote-getters will serve an 8-year term on Michigan’s highest court. 

There is also a race for a partial two-year term between three candidates— attorney Kerry Morgan, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Deborah Thomas and incumbent Justice David Viviano.

Although political parties nominate candidates for the Supreme Court, political affiliation does not appear on the ballot. 

Murphy said the process to choose judges should be totally non-partisan.

MURPHY: It goes back to what we learned as kids, the pledge of allegiance to the flag, where we talk about liberty and justice for all. It doesn’t say justice just for the establishment. It doesn’t say justice just for the wealthy. It doesn’t say justice just for the well-connected. It doesn’t say justice for the politically powerful. That’s what I believe in my heart— that the court must provide justice for all. 

MURPHY: It’s a challenge. My personal view is that the seat on the supreme court should not come with a for sale sign; it shouldn’t go to the highest bidder. It shouldn’t go to the person with the most billboards, the most TV and radio ads, particularly campaigns being funded by third parties who don’t even disclose who the donors are. We ought to sit down and discuss this because the type of money going into these races— and I must add that I don’t have that kind of money nor does my committee— has the real risk of undermining the public confidence in our judicial system. 

MURPHY: We have the Constitution, which talks about equal protection under the law for everyone. In Michigan, we have two strong statutes, the Michigan Civil Rights Act and the Ethnic Intimidation Act. What the courts should do and what I’ve tried to do is to make sure that the intent of those statutes is followed. It gets back to the concept of justice. We need to have a level playing field in our court system, so all people are treated with dignity and respect, and that they get the full support of the law.

MURPHY: I am not inclined to pat myself on the back; it’s a little uncomfortable, but you need to do this in the political arena. I have more experience than any of the candidates seeking this position. I started out in law school, working full-time, then working at the court of appeals before going to private practice. For 17 years, I had trial practice in all the courts of the state, representing people from all walks of life with all sorts of personal and legal problems that they brought to me. 

I have been a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals for 26 years. During that period, I have decided thousands of cases in virtually every area of the law. The Michigan Supreme Court has appointed me as chief on three occasions, and that’s in recognition of my administrative capabilities. And that’s important because the Supreme Court has the administrative responsibility over all the courts in the state. In my experience there, working with 27 colleagues, a staff of roughly 180 employees and an annual budget in excess of $22 million, I have provided the leadership that has put our court in a posture to be nationally recognized.

It is that kind of background experience, along with my personal experience— married for 47 years, four grown daughters. I also have a little bit of white in my hair, and that suggests age experience, and with age comes some wisdom.

MURPHY: I wasn’t planning to do this. A number of people came to me before the [Michigan Democratic Party] convention and basically said, Justice Mike Cavanaugh is stepping down. We don’t think anybody has the experience that you have. I frankly took it as some duty and some responsibility to step forward and offer my services. 

MURPHY: There was a caucus that opposed my nomination. Their stated reason was that when I ran for the Supreme Court in 1996, unsuccessfully, I had received the endorsement of  Right to Life of Michigan, and that was inconsistent with their view. All of the judges come with their own background experience, their beliefs, opinions, religious convictions. But once you put on the robe, none of that controls. What controls is the law. And that’s what I’ve been doing for 26 years, and that’s what I’ll continue to do as a Supreme Court justice. 

MURPHY: There is a tremendous amount of radio and TV advertising going on right now by the Republican Party for candidates they nominated for the Supreme Court. Our process is almost schizophrenic. Judges should be non-partisan. But the process thorough which you run for the Supreme Court says you have to be nominated by a political party and then run as non-partisan. Maybe historically the reason for that was that the major political parties would do some screening, so nobody would run for the supreme court who is unethical or a crook. 

The parties are supposed to be a filter. But now we need to move away from that. Judges should not be partisan. I have served for 26 years as a non-partisan judge. I make decisions as a non-partisan judge. And if fortunate enough to serve on the Supreme Court, I’ll continue to make decisions as a non-partisan judge.