Trump endorsement could put abortion back on the ballot in Michigan Supreme Court race

Ex-President Donald Trump has a long record of supporting judges to help advance his anti-abortion agenda. This year, he has big plans for the Michigan Supreme Court.

MICHIGAN—Ex-President Donald Trump is throwing his support behind Republican Patrick O’Grady in Michigan’s high-stakes Supreme Court race this November, backing yet another judge who could help strip abortion rights from women.

“Judge Patrick William O’Grady is an outstanding candidate for the Michigan Supreme Court — he has my full support,” Trump posted on social media this week. “He is a strong Rule of Law Judge who has proven record (sic) shows he will never make it up from the Bench — he will make decisions according to how the law is written! Michigan needs to unite behind him now.”

Here’s the deal:

Trump has repeatedly bragged about appointing three conservative justices to the US Supreme Court who voted to  overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision which has led to abortion bans taking effect in 22 states and reproductive rights being ripped away from millions of women.

During his first term, Trump also appointed more than 200 judges to the federal bench—with more than 40 of them having a documented record of fighting to limit access to abortion.

Due to the efforts of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Supreme Court, Michiganders never lost access to their reproductive freedoms after Roe was repealed.

On the same day of the ruling, Whitmer filed a motion urging a court to declare the state’s 1931 abortion ban unconstitutional. A subsequent injunction prevented that old law from ever being enforced before the state Supreme Court later found it to be unconstitutional.

An overwhelming majority of Michiganders also voted in support of Proposal 3 at the polls in 2022, officially cementing the right to reproductive care into the state Constitution. And last year, Democratic lawmakers sealed the deal by repealing the 1931 abortion ban altogether. 

But this year, with two seats up for grabs on the Michigan Supreme Court in November, Trump is supporting O’Grady, who could help flip control of the state’s highest court—and set the stage for a new, more restrictive era for reproductive rights in 2025.

“[O’Grady’s] experience is prefect (sic), having handled thousands of cases over the years with every type of criminal matter,” Trump posted to Truth Social to endorse O’Grady on Monday.

Who is Patrick O’Grady?

Patrick O’Grady is a longtime 15th Circuit Court judge in Branch County, a US Army Reserve veteran, a former Michigan State Police trooper, and a former assistant Branch County prosecutor who claims to have presided over 14,000 cases during his time on the bench.

During a recent debate, O’Grady introduced himself as a Christian man who, if elected, would adhere to a strict, textualist interpretation of the state Constitution as a “rule of law judge.” 

That’s the same judicial philosophy that guided the majority on the US Supreme Court that overturned Roe and peeled back the constitutional right to abortion for millions of women.

“We now have a far left court, and I’m coming before you to run for Supreme Court to take it from the far-left back to normal. And what do I mean by normal? I mean rule of law, constitutional textualist court,” O’Grady told a crowd at a rural church earlier this month.

O’Grady has largely avoided discussing abortion publicly and didn’t explicitly mention his views on reproductive rights  during the debate, but what he did say mirrored the language espoused by anti-abortion conservatives and suggests he could be hostile to reproductive rights. 

“We are very fortunate that we do have a country that was founded on Judeo-Christian principles of our founding fathers. We also have the same thing for our state,” O’Grady said. “If you read the preamble to the state Constitution, they’re basically forming this state pursuant to Almighty God. It’s in the preamble. It’s right there. That’s how they open it up. A group of people saying, ‘we’re getting ready to create this state, and we’re doing it for almighty God.’”

He added: “When you have a Christian worldview as an example, your conscience is in line with [the state Constitution]. It’s really only when you don’t have that or when you’re trying to stretch them, bend them, change them, create something that’s not there, it’s acrimony in your soul.”

During the recent debate, O’Grady also said that he admires US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who, in addition to facing a corruption scandal, opposes constitutional protections for reproductive rights. O’Grady said he’s “an incredible man.”

What’s at stake?

The state Supreme Court is the highest legal authority in the state, and it wields the power to decide whether laws are constitutional and whether voter ballot initiatives can move forward. The Court also has the power to interpret state laws and how they apply to Michiganders.

This year, O’Grady is facing off against incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Kyra Harris Bolden for a partial term that expires in 2029. With Bolden on the bench, Democratic-backed justices hold a 4-3 majority. Republican victories could effectively flip control of the Court.

Democrats and Republicans are likely to rule differently on different subjects. And with crucial decisions involving reproductive rights and abortion bans making their way to state supreme courts across the country in recent years, whoever wins in this year’s election would have a hand in making some crucial decisions for the people of Michigan, when those cases resurface.

For example, in September 2022, after a ballot initiative to enshrine reproductive rights into the state Constitution had been blocked by Republicans on the state Board of Canvassers, the Michigan Supreme Court stepped in to approve the initiative—and it was ultimately among the only reasons why Michiganders could decide on abortion access via ballot measure in 2022.

Decisions in other states have also shown the power that state Supreme Courts can wield.

In Arizona, for instance, the state Supreme Court upheld a 160-year-old law that banned abortion unless the patient’s life was in danger, though that law has since been repealed. In Alabama, another state Supreme Court decision found that frozen embryos were people and (temporarily) caused in-vitro fertilization (IVF) providers to stop offering the treatment. The Florida Supreme Court has also upheld a strict abortion ban enacted by Republican lawmakers.

In a recent statement, EMILY’s List President Jessica Mackler said that electing Democratic-backed state Supreme Court candidates who support reproductive rights is “critical” to safeguarding access to abortion for years to come—particularly in states like Michigan.

To help stave off Republican-led attacks on reproductive rights, groups across Michigan are standing behind Bolden (and Democratic-backed Michigan Supreme Court candidate Kimberly Ann Thomas) to keep protecting Michiganders’ legal right to access to reproductive health care.

“It’s critical that we have fair and impartial justices on the Michigan Supreme Court who will uphold the abortion rights Michiganders have fought so hard to enshrine,” said Shanay Watson-Whittaker, Michigan Campaigns Director for Reproductive Freedom for All. “We know that Kyra Harris Bolden and Kimberly Ann Thomas are the judges to do the job.”

READ MORE: Bolden pledges justice ‘without fear or favor’ on Michigan Supreme Court

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