Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court has a horse in the GOP Gov’s race

Maura Corrigan, justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, has placed a bet on a candidate in the GOP governor’s battle. Campaign finance records show Corrigan, who is part of the court’s conservative wing, donated the statutory maximum — $3,400 — to Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard’s campaign for governor.

This could raise potential conflicts of interest in future cases. Whether Bouchard gets elected as governor or not, it is almost certain that he will have a case in which he is directly involved come before the state’s high court. The fact that Justice Corrigan contributed to his campaign could raise questions of impropriety and conflict of interest if and when that happens.

The Court passed strict new recusal rules for justices. Corrigan was one of three justices to vote against the new rules, which were written after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a justice from West Virginia ought to have recused himself from a case in which a defendant had donated millions of dollars to his campaign.

Corrigan called those new rules “a huge threat to our liberties as Americans.”

Corrigan declined several requests for an interview on the matter, however, she did issue the following statement.

“It is clear that, under the Court’s traditional disqualification procedure, a justice’s lawful campaign donation could not be used to disqualify him or her from hearing a case. As to what would happen under the new rule, it remains to be seen how a majority of justices would rule on this issue.”

It’s not likely that the other members of the court would view such a situation as cause to force Corrigan to recuse herself, but it may lead to public concerns about the appearance of a conflict of interest. The opposing party in a case that directly involves Bouchard would almost certainly believe that justice in their case was not entirely impartial.

Corrigan is not the first justice to donate to a gubernatorial campaign. A search of campaign finance documents in past gubernatorial races found that Justice Marilyn Kelly gave Gov. Jennifer Granholm $3,400 for her bid to be re-elected the state’s top executive in 2006, while others have donated small amounts of money to various legislative campaigns and to each others’ judicial campaigns.