Biography of Justices

Biographies of the Justices

Front Row, Left to Right:
Justice Michael F. Cavanagh, Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor, Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver

Back Row, Left to Right:
Justice Robert P. Young, Jr., Justice Marilyn Kelly, Justice Maura D. Corrigan, Justice Stephen J. Markman

Link to Biographies:

Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor
Justice Michael F. Cavanagh
Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver
Justice Marilyn Kelly
Justice Maura D. Corrigan
Justice Robert P. Young, Jr.
Justice Stephen J. Markman

Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor, a native of Flint, was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court in August 1997 by Governor John Engler to fill the seat vacated by retiring Justice Dorothy Comstock Riley. In 1998, Justice Taylor ran and was elected to fill the balance of Justice Riley’s term. Justice Taylor was re-elected to a full eight-year term in 2000. In January 2005, and again in 2007, he was elected by his colleagues to serve as Chief Justice of the Court.

Chief Justice Taylor received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and his law degree from George Washington University. After three years in the U.S. Navy as a line officer, he returned to Michigan and served as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Ingham County. In 1972, he joined the Lansing law firm of Denfield, Timmer and Seelye, which later became Denfield, Timmer & Taylor when he became a partner in the firm. He remained in private practice for 20 years, receiving the highest ratings for competence and character by lawyer rating organizations. In 1992, Governor Engler appointed him to the Michigan Court of Appeals where he served until his appointment to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Taylor’s professional activities include service on the Board of Directors of the National Conference of Chief Justices, and on the Board of the George Mason University Law and Economics Center which provides judicial education across the country. He served in the past on the Michigan Legislature’s Commission on the Courts in the 21st Century, and on the Michigan State Board of Law Examiners. He is the co-author of a three-volume work entitled Torts which covers personal injury law in Michigan. His community activities include having served on the Board of Directors of Chief Okemos Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and the Board of Directors for the Michigan Dyslexia Institute.

Justice Cavanagh received a bachelor's degree from the University of Detroit in 1962 and his law degree from the University of Detroit Law School in 1966. He began his career as a law clerk for the Michigan Court of Appeals. In 1967, Justice Cavanagh was hired as an assistant city attorney for the City of Lansing and thereafter was appointed as Lansing City Attorney, serving until 1969. He then became a partner in the Lansing law firm of Farhat, Burns and Story, P.C. In 1971, he was elected judge of the 54-A District Court. Justice Cavanagh was then elected to the Michigan Court of Appeals, where he served from 1975-1982. At that time, he was the youngest person ever elected to the Michigan Court of Appeals. Justice Cavanagh was elected to the state Supreme Court in 1982 and was re-elected in 1990, 1998, and 2006. He served as Chief Justice from 1991-95. Justice Cavanagh's current term expires January 1, 2015.

The son of a factory worker and a teacher who moved to Detroit from Canada, Justice Cavanagh worked on Great Lakes freighters during the summers to help pay his tuition at the University of Detroit. During his years in law school, he was employed as an insurance claims adjuster and also worked for the Wayne County Friend of the Court as an investigator.

Justice Cavanagh has participated in numerous community and professional activities, including Chairman of the Board of the American Heart Association, Past President of the Incorporated Society of Irish/American Lawyers, Board of Directors of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, and the Commission on the Future of the University of Detroit Mercy . He is a Member of the Institute of Judicial Administration, New York University Law School. He has served as Vice President of the Conference of Chief Justices, Chair of the National Interbranch Conference of Funding the State Courts, and member of the National Center for State Courts Court Improvement Program. Other appointments include the Michigan Justice Project, Chairman of the Judicial Planning Committee, Michigan Crime Commission, Judicial Coordinating Committee, and Chair of the Sentencing Guidelines Committee. Justice Cavanagh is the Supervising Justice of the Michigan Judicial Institute. Justice Cavanagh was instrumental in the planning, design, construction and eventual completion of the Michigan Hall of Justice. He has served as Supreme Court Liaison, Michigan Indian Tribal Courts/Michigan State Courts since 1990, and has attended many national Indian Law conferences and participated in Federal Bar Association Tribal Court symposiums.

Justice Cavanagh and his wife, Patricia, are the parents of three children, and have two grandsons. The Cavanagh family resides in East Lansing .

Justice Weaver, of Glen Arbor, attended undergraduate school at H. Sophie Newcomb College, receiving her bachelor's degree, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1962. She earned her law degree from Tulane University in 1965, served as an editor of the Tulane Law Review, received the Order of the Coif, and served as law clerk for Judge Oliver P. Carriere of the Louisiana Civil District Court. Justice Weaver began her law practice in Louisiana, then in Michigan in 1973. Elected Leelanau County probate/juvenile judge in November 1974, she was re-elected to six-year terms in 1976 and 1982, serving through January 1, 1987. In 1986, Justice Weaver was elected to the Michigan Court of Appeals, 3rd District, for a six-year term, and was re-elected in 1992. She was elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1994 and served as Chief Justice from 1999-2000. She was reelected in 2002. Justice Weaver's term expires January 1, 2011.

Justice Weaver was appointed to the Michigan Commission on Criminal Justice by Governor William Milliken; to the Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice by Governors James Blanchard , John Engler, and Jennifer Granholm. She was also appointed to chair the Governor's Task Force for Children's Justice and the Trial Court Assessment Commission by Governors Engler and Granholm. She has served as chair of the State Bar of Michigan Juvenile Law Committee and as president of the Top of Michigan Probate and Juvenile Judges Association. In addition, Justice Weaver has served on the National Council of Juvenile and Family Judges and as secretary of the Probate and Juvenile Judges Association of Michigan. Justice Weaver's honors and awards include being selected as one of five "Outstanding Young Women in Michigan" by the Michigan Jaycees and as one of "Thirty Outstanding Women in Michigan" by the Michigan Womens' Commission. In 1999, she was named "Jurist of the Year" by the Police Officers Association of Michigan. In 2000, she received the "Michigan Champions in Childhood Injury Prevention: Lifetime Dedication to Children Award"; also in 2000, Justice Weaver was honored by Governor Engler and the Family Independence Agency for outstanding service to the children and families of Michigan. The Michigan Association of Drug Court Professionals honored her in February 2002 for her exceptional service to and support of Michigan 's drug courts. In 2003, she was recognized as an "Outstanding Woman in Leadership and Learning" by Ferris State University . She has been featured in People magazine and on ABC's "Good Morning America" on juvenile justice issues.
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Before taking the bench, Justice Marilyn Kelly was a courtroom attorney for 17 years in Michigan . Her practice was diverse in subject matter and geographic area. In 1988, she was elected to the Michigan Court of Appeals for a six-year term and reelected in 1994. She was elected to the Michigan Supreme Court for an eight-year term in 1996, and reelected in 2004 for an eight-year term which expires January 1, 2013.

Justice Kelly was raised in Detroit and graduated from Mackenzie High School . She earned a B.A. degree from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti . After a year's graduate study at LaSorbonne, University of Paris, France, she received her master's degree from Middlebury College in Vermont. She taught French language and literature in the Grosse Pointe Public Schools, at Albion College and Eastern Michigan University before attending law school at Wayne State University . She was awarded a law degree with honors and serves the law school now on its Board of Visitors.

Justice Kelly is a member of the Oakland County Bar Association where she has been active as Chair of the Family Law Committee and Committee Co-Chair of the President's Task Force on Improved Dispute Resolution. She has been an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association and a panel member of the State Attorney Discipline Board. She is editor of the 6th Edition of Michigan Family Law published by ICLE. In 2003, Justice Kelly became a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation.

She was elected statewide to the Michigan State Board of Education in 1964 and again in 1968, and served twelve years on the Board, the last two as its President. She has been President, in addition, of the Women's Bar Association and of the Women Lawyers' Association of Michigan. She has been a member of the State Bar Representative Assembly and the Family Law Council for the State Bar of Michigan. From 1999 through 2003, Justice Kelly was co-chair of the Open Justice Commission, an organization of the State Bar devoted to making justice available to all, regardless of factors like race, color, creed or disability. Justice Kelly is on the governing board of the National Consortium for Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts.

Her community service has included Board Member of Channel 56-Public Television in Detroit, board member of the Women's Survival Center in Pontiac, Vice President of the Board of the Detroit Institute of Technology, Development Committee member of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac and member of the citizens advisory committee of the Detroit Public Schools, Wayne County Community College and Oakland County Community College.

Justice Maura Corrigan was first elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1998 and reelected in 2006. She served two terms as Chief Justice from 2001-2004.

She graduated from Marygrove College in 1969 and from the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Law in 1973. She served as a law clerk to Michigan Court of Appeals Judge John Gillis and became a Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor in 1974. In 1979, she became an Assistant United States Attorney, serving as Chief of Appeals and later Chief Assistant United States Attorney. In 1989, Justice Corrigan became a partner at the Detroit law firm of Plunkett & Cooney. In 1992, Governor John Engler appointed her to the Michigan Court of Appeals where she served seven years. The Supreme Court appointed her Chief Judge from 1997-1998.

Justice Corrigan participates in various community and professional activities. She is a past-President of the American Inns of Court at MSU-DCL Law School, and a member of the Pew Commission investigating foster care issues in the U.S. She served as vice-president of the Conference of Chief Justices, a member of the Michigan Law Revision Commission, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Attorney Advisory Committee, and the Local Rules Committee of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She held posts on the Executive Board of the Michigan Judges Association and the Judicial Advisory Board of the Center for Law and Organizational Economics at the University of Kansas Law School. She also served on the board of Boysville of Michigan (now Holy Cross). She currently serves on the Board of Vista Maria. She is a long time member of the Federalist Society, Michigan Lawyers Chapter, and was president of the Incorporated Society of Irish American Lawyers and the Federal Bar Association, Detroit Chapter.

Justice Corrigan has won numerous awards for her achievements including: Spectrum Human Services, Inc. Chairman’s Award (2006); Michigan Family Support Council 2006 Judicial Award (2006); Police Officers Association of Michigan Jurist of the Year Award (2006); Incorporated Society of Irish American Lawyers’ Tiger Thornton Award (2006); Vista Maria’s Child Advocate of the Year Award (2005), the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s Angels in Adoption Award (2005), the Detroit News Michiganian of the Year Award (2005), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OCS) Award for significant improvements to Michigan's Child Support Enforcement Program (2002), the Federal Bar Association's Leonard Gilman Award to the Outstanding Practitioner of Criminal Law (1989), and the U.S. Department of Justice Director's Award for Outstanding Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (1985). She holds honorary doctorates from five Michigan colleges and universities: Eastern Michigan University, Michigan State University/Detroit College of Law, Northern Michigan University, University of Detroit-Mercy, and Schoolcraft College. She has been chosen as the Outstanding Alumna of UD-Mercy Law School and Marygrove College. She has coauthored a treatise on civil procedure and has published articles in professional journals and books, including the Wayne Law Review, University of Toledo Law Review, NYU Law Review and the Texas Review of Law and Politics. She has taught as an adjunct professor at Wayne State University Law School and at programs of the Michigan Judicial Institute, the American Bar Association Appellate Practice Institute, the Federal Bar Association, and the U.S. Department of Justice Attorney General's Advocacy Institute.

Justice Corrigan is the widow of Wayne State University Distinguished Professor of Law Joseph D. Grano and is the mother of Daniel, a Wayne State University law student, Megan, a comedian with Second City in Chicago, and the mother-in-law of Michael Canale, business manager of Chicago’s Annoyance Theater.

Justice Robert P. Young, Jr. has been a member of the Michigan Supreme Court since 1999; he was elected in 2002 to a term that will expire January 1, 2011. Before joining the Supreme Court, Justice Young served as a judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals, to which he was appointed in 1995 and elected in 1996.

Justice Young graduated in 1974 from Harvard College with honors and from Harvard Law School in 1977. In 1978, he joined the law firm of Dickinson, Wright, Moon, Van Dusen & Freeman, becoming a partner in the firm in 1982. From 1992, until he joined the Court of Appeals, Justice Young was the vice president, corporate secretary, and general counsel of AAA Michigan.

Justice Young's community activities include service as a member of the Advisory Board of the United Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit and Vista Maria. He has also served as a trustee of charitable and civic organizations devoted to children's interests, such as the Detroit Institute of Children, The Detroit Historical Society, and the Governor's Task Force on Children's Justice Concerning Child Abuse and Neglect. Justice Young is also a former commissioner of the Michigan Civil Service Commission, a former trustee of Central Michigan University, University Liggett School, Grosse Pointe Academy and a former chair of the Greater Detroit Chamber of Commerce Leadership Detroit program. He has served on the boards of many other civic and business organizations.

Justice Young has been an adjunct professor at Wayne State University Law School for a number of years and is a co-editor of Michigan Civil Procedure During Trial, 2d Ed. (Michigan Institute of Continuing Legal Education, 1989) and Michigan Civil Procedure, (Michigan Institute of Continuing Legal Education, 1999)

In 2001 and 1999, Justice Young was awarded honorary degrees respectively from Michigan State University and Central Michigan University. In 1999, Justice Young was named Detroit Country Day School 's Alumnus of the Year.

Stephen Markman was appointed Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court on October 1, 1999. Before his appointment, he served as Judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals from 1995-1999. Prior to this, he practiced law with the firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone in Detroit. From 1989-93, he served as United States Attorney in Michigan after being nominated to that position by President George Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Justice Markman served from 1985-1989 as Assistant Attorney General of the United States after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In that position, he headed the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy which served as the principal policy development office within the Department and which coordinated the federal judicial selection process. Prior to this, he served for seven years as Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution and as Deputy Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Justice Markman has authored articles for such publications as the Stanford Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, the American Criminal Justice Law Review, the Barrister's Law Journal, the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, the American University Law Review, the Suffolk University Law Review, the Washington & Lee Law Review and the Detroit College of Law Review. He has also served as contributing editor of National Review magazine.

Justice Markman has taught constitutional law at Hillsdale College since 1993. He has travelled to Ukraine on two occasions on behalf of the State Department and the American Bar Association, to provide assistance in the development of that nation's post-Soviet constitution. He is a Fellow of the Michigan Bar Foundation, a Master of the Bench of the Inns of Court, and a member of the One Hundred Club. He has spoken before numerous youth and civil organizations throughout Michigan, and has coached Little League baseball and basketball. He lives with his wife Mary Kathleen and their sons James and Charles in Mason.

Justice Markman was reelected to the Supreme Court in 2000 and 2004. His present term expires January 1, 2013.