Chief Justice Bridget McCormack announced her retirement on Monday from the Michigan Supreme Court, leaving Gov. Gretchen Whitmer the chance to select her replacement.
McCormack, who voted with the court’s 4-3 Democratic majority on Thursday to allow an abortion rights measure to appear on the November ballot, said in a letter that she would be stepping down after Nov. 22 but no later than the end of the year.
She was elected to Michigan’s highest court in 2012 and selected as chief justice by her colleagues in 2019. Her retirement opens a Democratic seat on a court that last week handed down consequential rulings on abortion and voting rights.
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“Making good on a campaign promise I made in 2012, I have given my every effort to do justice and to make the Michigan judiciary as fair and accessible as possible,” McCormack wrote in a letter to colleagues. “After a decade, the time has come for me to move on, to let others lead, and to build on a foundation of progress.”
Her replacement would serve until the next round of Supreme Court elections in 2024. McCormack ran as an outsider but ultimately received the Democratic Party’s endorsement in her 2012 election; she completed one full term of eight years but will leave six years on her current term.
“She upheld the rule of law, stood strong for our constitutional values, and protected the fundamental rights of every Michigander,” Whitmer said in a statement. “She worked tirelessly, both on and off the bench, to move our state courts forward and ensure that all Michiganders, no matter their background, means, or circumstance, had equal access to our justice system.”
In McCormack’s concurring opinion on the ballot initiative that would cement abortion access in the state’s constitution, she argued that not allowing the measure to appear on the ballot would “disenfranchise millions of Michiganders” and said it was a “sad marker of the times” that the Republican members of the Board of State Canvassers voted against the measure, deadlocking with Democrats 2-2.
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Michigan has a trigger law banning most abortions, but it has not gone into effect due to court challenges.
McCormack is the sister of West Wing actress Mary McCormack, who appeared with other cast members of the political television drama in her 2012 campaign video. She has not yet announced future plans.
Two other members of the court, Republican Brian Zahra and Democrat Richard Bernstein, are up for reelection this year.
