Weaver resignation shakes up judicial races

Yesterday’s unexpected resignation by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Weaver was the equivalent of a 100-megaton bomb tossed into this year’s judicial elections; the reverberations from this one may be felt for years to come.

As the Detroit News reports, Michigan Republicans are incensed over the shocking announcement from (ostensibly) one of their own. Weaver is a Republican and has been nominated twice by the Republican party to serve in her current position.

But this move comes after years of feuding with her more conservative colleagues on the state’s highest court. Weaver, who is more politically moderate than the three other Republican justices and had become the swing vote on the court, has publicly bickered with them to the point where observers called it unseemly.

The feud became so bitter that the other Republican justice on the court up for reelection this year, Robert Young, declared months ago that the GOP could nominate him or her, but not both. That led Weaver to announce that she would run for her own seat as an independent this November, before yesterday’s abrupt change of mind.

Republicans responded to this surprise move with anger and disbelief.

Saul Anuzis, Michigan’s member of the Republican National Committee, described Weaver’s resignation as “politics at its worst” and “borderline unethical.”

Michigan Republican Party Chief of Staff Josh Venable called for “the appropriate authorities to immediately open an investigation” into discussions between Weaver and Granholm “to determine if any promises or pledges were made to secure this crooked deal.”

Given that Weaver is a Republican and Granholm a Democrat, and that both are now lame ducks in elected office with no prospects of any future statewide position, the idea that there were promises made from one to the other is rather silly. They may not like it, but there’s nothing the GOP can do about it.

For conservatives in the Michigan Republican Party, this will undoubtedly be viewed as one last betrayal from Weaver, especially since she specifically asked Gov. Granholm to replace her with Appeals Court Judge Alton Davis — a Democrat. That means that Davis gets to run for that seat as the incumbent this year, which is a powerful advantage in a supposedly non-partisan judicial election.

It also gives the Democrats a 4-3 advantage on the court, and if Davis wins reelection in November that advantage will continue over the next few years — a time when the court will likely be called upon to adjudicate redistricting disputes.

I’ll say this for Justice Weaver — she sure knows how to make an exit.