Michiganders will decide in November who gets to serve on the most powerful court in the state. And Kyra Harris Bolden thinks she has the experience needed to stay on the bench.
MICHIGAN—Kyra Harris Bolden said that she approaches every issue that comes before the Michigan Supreme Court with a thoughtful perspective and an open mind, prioritizing fairness and, above all, justice.
“I really just focus on the cases that are before me and absorb that information so that I can make the best decisions possible,” Bolden said in an exclusive interview with The ‘Gander earlier this summer.
Bolden, who filled an open seat on the Court last year, is running for reelection in November with the support of the Michigan Democratic Party.
But since Court races are technically nonpartisan and judges are expected to be impartial, Bolden has stayed relatively reserved about her personal views and opinions on a wide array of important legal issues that may come before the Court.
After all, Michigan’s Code of Judicial Conduct requires that she—as well as all other judges and candidates—avoid “impropriety and the appearance of impropriety,” so as not to appear biased on high-stakes issues like abortion access, LGBTQ rights, gun safety measures and more.
“I stand for justice,” Bolden said during a recent interview with Detroit Black and White. “I think if you look at the decisions that I’ve made or the decisions that I’ve authored, sometimes I’ve sided with who people would consider conservatives and sometimes I’ve sided with who people would consider to be liberals. … I’ve always taken the approach of taking all the information that’s available to me and trying to make the best decisions possible for Michiganders.”
That code of conduct is designed to create an impartial justice system. But it can also make it challenging for voters to identify which candidates align most closely with their personal values.
So, as millions of Michiganders prepare to head to the polls this year, Bolden is encouraging them all to spend some time exploring her background and courtroom experience (as well as her endorsements) to decide whether she truly deserves her spot on the bench next year.
To help, here are five things to know about Bolden and her track record:
1.) Bolden is a trailblazer—with plenty of experience.
Bolden graduated from Southfield Public Schools, received her bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University and her law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, and is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the oldest Black sorority in the country.
Before making state history as the first Black woman to serve on the Michigan Supreme Court, Bolden served two terms as a Democratic member of the state House of Representatives and, before that, worked as a law clerk, as well as a criminal defense and civil litigation attorney.
Bolden is also a member of the Association of Black Judges of Michigan, as well as the Oakland County, Straker, and Wolverine bar associations, and has received several accolades over her career—including the Detroit NAACP’s Ida B. Wells Freedom and Justice award, the Michigan Chronicle’s Woman of the Year award, and a spot on Crain’s annual 40 Under 40 list.
Now serving in her second year on the bench, Bolden said that she “remains committed to ensuring equal access to justice, applying the law without fear or favor, and treating all who come before the Court with dignity and respect,” according to her campaign website.
“We are just people trying to make the best decisions possible,” Bolden told The ‘Gander. “We’re trying to follow the law, and sometimes that means making unpopular decisions, but people should have the opportunity to be heard and respected. That should be non-negotiable. That doesn’t mean that you win, but it means that you had a fair opportunity to be heard.”
2.) Reproductive rights groups trust Bolden to protect abortion access.
Ahead of the election, Bolden has rounded up support from Reproductive Freedom for All, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, the Michigan Nurses Association, the Michigan Democratic Party, and other groups with lengthy records of defending reproductive rights.
The Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, which backs candidates based on their “demonstrated interest in advancing the cause of women in general” has also endorsed Bolden, as has Fems for Democracy, which has a long history of supporting abortion rights.
EMILY’s List has endorsed Bolden this year as well—namely because of her “dedication and tenacity,” as well as the “critical role that state Supreme Courts play in protecting our reproductive freedom,” EMILY’s List President Jessica Mackler said in a statement.
“Bolden’s historic service has been exemplified by a commitment to fairly interpreting the law and protecting the rights of Michiganders,” she said. “At a time when courts in more than half of the country are seeing cases related to abortion rights, ensuring a strong pro-choice majority on the state’s Supreme Court is critical to safeguard abortion access for years to come.”
3.) Bolden is NOT a textualist or an originalist.
Ahead of Election Day, officials at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan have been sounding an alarm over remarks made last month by both Republican-backed Michigan Supreme Court candidates during a debate at a church in rural Livingston County—namely when Andrew Fink and Patrick O’Grady described themselves as either a “constitutional conservative” or a “strict textualist” when asked about their legal philosophies.
Because textualism—which can also be described as originalism or constitutional conservatism—is the same guiding legal principle that ultimately led to Roe v. Wade being overturned and abortion rights being ripped away from millions of women, officials at the ACLU say Fink’s and O’Grady’s remarks only raise red flags, particularly for Michiganders’ rights.
In an exclusive interview with The ‘Gander, Michigan ACLU Legal Director Bonsitu Kitaba said Michigan voters should be “very careful” with the concept of constitutional conservatism this year—especially given the damage that judicial philosophy could have on their civil liberties.
“I think what [O’Grady and Fink] are trying to telegraph, especially when they couple those phrases with conservatism, is they want to take a narrow view of what the Constitution means and what civil rights mean to people,” Kitaba told The ‘Gander. “Voters have to be very careful when they’re assessing the credentials and philosophies of these judges when they say that.”
At its core, textualism asserts that laws should only be interpreted according to the plain meaning of the text—and not the actual intent of those who wrote or passed them into law.
Unlike the Republican candidates, Bolden has said that she doesn’t subscribe to a particular legal philosophy. But if she did, it likely would NOT involve a textualist approach to the law.
“Sometimes a strict textualist approach is not going to be helpful because our laws are not necessarily clear and they don’t contemplate every situation,” Bolden told The ‘Gander. “I have to leave myself malleable to take in all the information and try to make the best decision based on the information in front of me. I’m not going to look at a case through a specific lens every single time. I’m committed to taking all the information and making the best decisions.”
She added: “We need our state court justices to get it right. We really need them to be careful. We need them to do all the work. We need them to listen, pay attention, and not think they know it all right away. … If people are going to go to the courts and feel like they can go there and get a fair hearing, that’s a really important piece of how our court systems need to be reliable.”
4.) Bolden has experience passing (and amending) dozens of state laws as a former member of the state House of Representatives.
As a former member of the state House of Representatives, Bolden was openly supportive of reproductive rights. She also served as a member of the state House Judiciary Committee, where she focused much of her time on legislation to protect survivors of sexual violence.
That includes legislation that created the state’s Address Confidentiality Program, which provides certain privacy protections for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, or those who fear that disclosure of their address will increase risk of harm.
Bolden also worked to pass criminal justice reforms—including legislation that makes it easier for those deemed “medically frail” to be released early from prison, as well as long-sought accessibility revisions to the state’s Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act.
Her experience in the legislature has also informed how she approaches her role on the court and has provided her with a unique perspective when it comes to interpreting the law, she said.
“I’ve made laws, passed laws, and I’ve voted on countless bills,” Bolden told the ‘Gander. “My guiding principle is the law itself. How the law is interpreted depends on the question. Sometimes it’s a legislative interpretation, sometimes it’s an issue of constitutionality. I always look to the law and just try to make the best decisions possible based on what’s presented. You don’t want judges to come in with preconceived notions about issues, because I think we’ve seen that play out. I think it’s important to be open to what our decisions will be on any issue.”
5.) Bolden has a deeply personal connection to civil rights.
Bolden’s passion for justice stems from her family’s own tragic history with racial violence.
In 1939, Bolden’s great-grandfather, Jesse Lee Bond, was lynched in Tennessee after he was involved in an argument with a white storeowner and his son. He was ultimately shot to death, castrated, and his body was dragged from behind a truck and staked to a nearby riverbed.
No one was ever held accountable for his death.
Her personal tie to the consequences of racial injustice has fueled Bolden’s commitment to ensuring fairness and equality under the law—and it still motivates her to fight for a justice system where no one is denied protection of the law due to their race, background, or identity.
“Things like this happened, it happened to my family. Slavery happened, lynching happened, Redlining happening, government-sanctioned violence based on race happened,” Bolden, then a state lawmaker, wrote in an op-ed for Bridge Michigan in 2021. “I too would like to stick my head in the sand and pretend it didn’t but I can’t, because it happened to MY family and many other families in this nation. … When we don’t understand our history, we are doomed to repeat it. Respectfully, history is not and should not be about your feelings. We are not going back.”
READ MORE: Supreme Court election could spell big changes for Michiganders’ rights
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