The Michigan House of Representatives has sent a bill back to the Senate reducing the number of Court of Appeals judgeships by four, over time. A unanimous Supreme Court, the Governor, and the Senate had supported the reduction, but the House in December the House sent its own bill to the Senate keeping the number of Court of Appeals judgeships at its current 24. The House-passed bill (PDF) provides that "to effectuate the transition" to 24 judges the reductions will take effect upon a vacancy in a district that has more than 6 judgeships, but If there is more than one excess judgeship, only the vacant judgeship with the shortest term is eliminated. Further,
Except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, if there are more than 6 court of appeals judgeships in a district on the effective date of the amendatory act that added this section and there are no judgeships to be eliminated under subdivision (b), 1 judgeship shall be eliminated from the district at the end of the term for which an incumbent judge of the court of appeals does not seek election or reelection to that office until there are 6 incumbent judges in that district. Thereafter, the number of judgeships in the district shall remain at 6. However, a judgeship held by an incumbent judge who is serving by appointment of the governor shall not be eliminated under this subdivision unless the judge does not seek election at the first general election held 14 after the vacancy to which he or she was appointed occurred, as provided in section 23 of article vi of the state constitution of 1963, or does not seek reelection at the end of a subsequent term. (emphasis added)
Clearly, the first test of one's eligibility for appointment to a Court of Appeals seat is your ability to accurately determine what this provision means.
Meanwhile, both houses support redistricting the court's four election districts, a process that needs to be completed before March 26, the judicial filing deadline for incumbent judges.
