Kurtis Wilder

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Kurtis Wilder

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Michigan Supreme Court

* * *

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 6, 2018

Education

Bachelor's

University of Michigan, 1981

Law

University of Michigan Law School, 1984

Kurtis Wilder was a judge of the Michigan Supreme Court. He left office on January 1, 2019.

Wilder (Republican Party) ran for re-election for judge of the Michigan Supreme Court. He lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.

Two seats were up for election, and Wilder was defeated by Elizabeth Clement (R) and Megan Cavanagh (D). Wilder was appointed to the court by Republican Governor Rick Snyder on May 9, 2017, after the retirement of Robert Young. He completed the remainder of Young's unexpired term and was running for a full eight-year term in 2018.

The Michigan Supreme Court is officially nonpartisan, but candidates were nominated to the ballot by party convention. Wilder was nominated by the Republican Party.[1]

Wilder was previously a judge on the Michigan First District Court of Appeals. He was appointed to the court by Republican Governor John Engler in December 1998. He was elected in 2000 and re-elected in 2004, 2010, and 2016.[2][3][4]

## Contents

* 1 Education
* 2 Career
* 3 Associations
* 4 Elections
* 4.1 2018
* 4.2 2016
* 4.2.1 Election results
* 4.2.1.1 November 8 general election
* 4.3 2010
* 5 Noteworthy cases
* 5.1 RMGN and the Court of Appeals
* 5.2 Court rejects bid to remove judges in Kilpatrick case
* 5.3 Court rules in favor of property owner
* 5.4 Court rejects same-sex benefits
* 6 Recent news
* 7 See also
* 8 External links
* 9 Footnotes

## Education[edit]

Wilder received his A.B. in political science from the University of Michigan in 1981 and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1984.[2]

## Career[edit]

* 2017 - Present: Justice, Michigan Supreme Court
* 1998-2017: Judge, Michigan First District Court of Appeals

Before he became an appellate judge, Wilder served as chief judge of the Washtenaw County trial court. Prior to his judicial career, Wilder practiced law with the firms of Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith, P.C. in Lansing and Butzel Long, P.C. in Detroit.[2]

## Associations[edit]

* State Bar of Michigan
* Fellows of the Michigan State Bar Foundation
* Michigan Judges Association
* Association of Black Judges of Michigan
* Federalist Society, Board of Advisors, Lawyers Division-Michigan Chapter
* Wolverine Bar Association[2]

## Elections[edit]

### 2018[edit]

See also: Michigan Supreme Court elections, 2018

Although the general election was officially nonpartisan, candidates were nominated to the ballot by party convention. Party affiliation listed below refers to the party that nominated each candidate.

General election

##### General election for Michigan Supreme Court (2 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Michigan Supreme Court on November 6, 2018.

Candidate

Votes

|
|
|

✔ |

| Elizabeth Clement (R)  |

29.9

| 1,871,462
✔ |

| Megan Cavanagh (D)  |

25.3

| 1,584,512

| Kurtis Wilder (R)  |

24.3

| 1,519,394

| Samuel Bagenstos (D)  |

11.5

| 717,062

| Kerry Lee Morgan (L)  |

5.8

| 360,858

| Doug Dern (Natural Law Party)  |

3.3

| 209,103

* * *

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

| Total votes: 6,262,391

|
|

= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

### 2016[edit]

Wilder filed to run for re-election in 2016.[5] Two seats were up for election on the court; incumbent Judge Cynthia Stephens filed to run for re-election as well. Attorney Nicole James also ran for one of the two seats. The three faced each other on November 8.

#### Election results[edit]

##### November 8 general election[edit]

Incumbent Cynthia Stephens and incumbent Kurtis Wilder defeated Nicole James in the general election for the Michigan First District Court of Appeals, two seats.

Michigan First District Court of Appeals, Two Seats, 2016

Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes
| Democratic  |  Cynthia Stephens Incumbent | 44.40% | 475,106
| Unknown  |  Kurtis Wilder Incumbent | 33.94% | 363,197
| Unknown  | Nicole James | 21.66% | 231,801
Total Votes (85 of 83 counties: 100%) | 1,070,104
Source: Michigan Secretary of State Official Results

### 2010[edit]

Main article: Michigan judicial elections, 2010

Wilder ran unopposed and was re-elected to the First District Court of Appeals on November 2, 2010.[3]

## Noteworthy cases[edit]

### RMGN and the Court of Appeals

Reform Michigan Government Now's (RMGN) failed proposal intended to reduce the Michigan Court of Appeals from 28 to 21 judges, based on term expiration dates, shifting the court's political power from the Republicans to the Democrats. Had the proposal passed, the court's political makeup would have changed from 16 Republican judges and 12 Democratic judges to 10 Republican judges and 11 Democratic judges - thereby eliminating six Republican judges and one Democratic judge. The judges targeted by the Reform Michigan Government Now proposal were: Pat Donofrio, Joel Hoekstra, Donald Owens, David Sawyer, William Whitbeck, Kurtis Wilder, and Helene White \- the only Democrat who would have been affected by these removals.[6][7]

### Court rejects bid to remove judges in Kilpatrick case

According to the Detroit News, the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected a Wayne County Prosecutor's effort to remove every judge in the city's 36th District Court from overseeing proceedings in the criminal case against former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. With that ruling, the court discarded any idea of impropriety on the entire bench. In an opinion authored by Kirsten Frank Kelly, and signed by Kurtis Wilder and Christopher Murray: "That the judges of the 36th District Court may have relationships with witnesses beyond those prescribed in the court rule does not warrant recusal, in absence of showing bias (and none is alleged), because the role of the judge in a preliminary exam is not to gauge guilt or innocence, and generally does not require making credibility determinations."[8]

### Court rules in favor of property owner

In a decision authored by Judge Kirsten Frank Kelly and signed by Judge Kurtis Wilder, the Michigan Court of Appeals did not uphold an Oakland County Circuit Court ruling that the tenant was solely responsible for a fire started in her apartment. Instead, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that both the tenant and her co-signer could be found "jointly and severally obligated to pay for any damage that they caused to the premises."[9]

### Court rejects same-sex benefits

The Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Michigan Constitution in regards to health benefits to partners of same-sex couples. In Kalamazoo, Michigan, public sector employees were eligible for those benefits. According to the Detroit News, the unanimous ruling by Judges Kurtis Wilder, Joel Hoekstra and Brian Zahra struck down an earlier ruling by an Ingham County court judge in a case brought by National Pride at Work Inc. against the city of Kalamazoo. The court ruled "such arrangements violate a constitutional amendment that state voters approved in 2004 that bars public employers from recognizing same-sex unions for any purpose." Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project in New York City, said if the ruling is upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court, "Michigan will be the first state to remove health-care benefits from same-sex spouses as a result of such an amendment."[10]

## Recent news[edit]

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Michigan Court of Appeals Kurtis Wilder. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Kurtis Wilder - Google News

## See also[edit]

Michigan | Judicial Selection | More Courts

|
|

Courts in Michigan Michigan Court of Appeals Michigan Supreme Court |  Elections: 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 Gubernatorial appointments Judicial selection in Michigan |  Federal courts State courts Local courts

## External links[edit]

* Michigan Courts.gov, "Supreme Court Justices"
* Detroit Free Press, "Appeals court: Judge OK to remove tether," August 20, 2008
* Michigan Poverty Law Program, "Issue Alert-03-09-01," September 18, 2003

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ mlive.com, "6 compete for 2 seats on Michigan Supreme Court," October 16, 2018
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Michigan Courts.gov, "Judge Kurtis T. Wilder," accessed July 5, 2014
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Michigan Department of State, "1st District Judge of the Court of Appeals Incumbent 6 Year Terms (2) Positions," accessed July 5, 2014
4. ↑ Ballotpedia.org, "Michigan Constitution, Article VI, Section 23," accessed July 5, 2014
5. ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2016 Michigan Candidate Listing," accessed March 24, 2016
6. ↑ MLive.com, "Appeals Court says Reform Michigan measure can't go on ballot," August 20, 2008
7. ↑ Blog MLive.com, "Opponents file suit against reform group's constitutional proposal," July 24, 2008
8. ↑ The Detroit News, "Appeal's Court rejects request to disqualify local judges from Kilpatrick's criminal case," July 3, 2008
9. ↑ State of Michigan Court of Appeals, "Laurel Woods Apartments v. Najah Roumayah and Rebecca Roumayah," March 8, 2007
10. ↑ The Detroit News, "Court rejects same-sex benefits," February 3, 2007

v • e

Michigan Supreme Court
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|

Current|

Chief Justice: Bridget Mary McCormack • Brian Zahra • David Viviano • Richard Bernstein • Elizabeth Clement • Megan Cavanagh • Elizabeth Welch

Former|

Clifford Taylor • Michael Cavanagh • Elizabeth Weaver • Marilyn Kelly • Maura Corrigan • Stephen Markman • Augustus Woodward • Frederick Bates (Michigan) • Kurtis Wilder • Alton Davis • Diane Hathaway • Mary Beth Kelly • James L. Ryan • Thomas M. Cooley • Isaac P. Christiancy • James V. Campbell • Benjamin F. Graves • G. Mennen Williams • Dorothy Comstock Riley • Clark Adams (Michigan) • John Bird • Raymond Starr • George Edwards (Sixth Circuit) • Thomas McAllister • Robert P. Young Jr. • Joan Larsen •

Michigan courts

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State resources:

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