By Jeff Karoub
Associated Press Writer
DETROIT (AP) -- In Wayne County Circuit Judge Mary Beth Kelly's courtroom of teenage runaways, victories are often relative and always moving targets.
On one recent morning, Kelly praises a 14-year-old girl with a history of running away for a report card containing several good grades. She compliments a 17-year-old with a similar history for her academic and social progress -- but also lectures her for getting pregnant. The judge encourages another teen for her "good decision" to return to the hearing -- after bolting from the courtroom minutes earlier.
Despite its challenges, Kelly says she's passionate about her work with runaway foster children and her "AWOL docket" -- absent without legal permission. Now, she's setting her sights on the Michigan Supreme Court and hopes to draw on her judicial advocacy for juveniles if elected.
"I think the whole family law -- the fact that I have sat on the family law bench in its entirety, brings a different dimension to the Supreme Court we don't have now," says Kelly, a Republican who lives on the Detroit island suburb of Grosse Ile Township.
State Republicans in August nominated Kelly and Supreme Court Justice Robert Young Jr. to run for two open seats on the state's high court. They will be on the Nov. 2 ballot along with Democratic-nominated candidates Oakland County Circuit Judge Denise Langford Morris and recently appointed Supreme Court Justice Alton Thomas Davis. Political parties nominate candidates for the Supreme Court, but the races, for eight-year terms, appear as nonpartisan at the end of the ballot.
Kelly's tenure in family court is a point of particular pride -- she started the teenage runaway case docket in 2002 after the state Supreme Court ordered judges to set up special dockets to help locate the children.
"They have to have a positive experience coming to court, even if they've done something wrong: They've run away from their placement," says Kelly, who is married with a 12-year-old son.
"We have to use it to teach them. These kids have been beat up a lot. I think that it's really an opportunity to empower them."
In the case of Amber, the 17-year-old who ran from the courtroom but returned, Kelly was glad to hear the troubled teen wants to return to school. The teen told Kelly her ultimate goal is to be a tattoo artist.
"Hmmm, that's good," Kelly said, "but there are other professions." She mentioned becoming a medical technician. The teen said no.
"So, do you like tattoos?" Kelly asked, opting to engage rather than criticize. Amber nods.
"Anything that interests you I think you should pursue," Kelly said. "Get an education you can use."
Kelly, 48, was a commercial litigation partner with the law firm Dickinson Wright PLLC when then-Gov. John Engler, a Republican, appointed her to the circuit court bench in 1999. She served as chief judge of the court from 2001-2007.
Larry Campbell, who worked with Kelly at Dickinson Wright for about 10 years, said he's impressed by her passion and tenacity.
He recalled a time when Kelly's opposing attorney kept objecting during a case, so she told him each future objection should be worth $25 -- she'd pay the other attorney if the judge agreed with it, and he would have to pay her if the judge overruled.
The objections stopped.
"She has all the right moves -- very bright, she's a rule of law judge," Campbell said. "I don't think you can get any better."
Kelly said she's also proud of her time as Wayne County court chief, but it came with its share of conflict, and she told the state Supreme Court in 2007 she wouldn't accept another appointment as chief.
She came under fire for acting too independently and trying to privatize the Friend of the Court.
That privatization effort was among the issues that prompted a labor-led coalition in 2007 to call for her resignation. Lawyers representing children under the supervision of the county's juvenile court sued her the same year.
The lawsuit alleged Kelly violated the children's right to counsel and effective representation when she removed hundreds of individual attorneys and replaced them with hand-picked "attorney groups." The lawsuit argued she created a "fixed-fee" system that resulted in far fewer attorneys for a growing number of children.
The suit was filed in April 2007, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case three months later.
Julie Hurwitz, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said changing the system was politically motivated and leaves her concerned if Kelly is elected to the Supreme Court.
"I don't think that political ambition has any place on the bench," she says. "One has to look at the history."
Kelly says she wanted to reduce deficits and improve services and wasn't motivated by politics. And even as a conservative endorsed by Right to Life, she says she aims to keep partisanship off the bench.
The high court has been torn in recent years by ideological and partisan strife, with open hostility among justices and mudslinging campaign advertisements. Kelly wants to restore civility and respect -- the same way she tries to deal with the truant-but-trying teens in her court.
"The great expectation when someone comes into a courtroom is not they're going to win or lose, but that they're going to be treated with respect," she said. "I think that has to apply to the Supreme Court as well."
Published: Wed, Oct 13, 2010
