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Maura D. Corrigan (born June 14, 1948"Maura Corrigan"
, Biographies, Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society
) is the former director of the
Michigan Department of Human Services The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is a principal department of state of Michigan, headquartered in Lansing, that provides public assistance, child and family welfare services, and oversees health policy and management. ...
. She was also a justice of the
Michigan Supreme Court The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the state ...
, serving from 1998 to 2011 and as chief justice from 2001 to 2004.


Background

She graduated from
Marygrove College Marygrove College was a private Roman Catholic graduate college in Detroit, Michigan, affiliated with the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It announced its closure on December 17, 2019, at end of the fall semester. History Th ...
in
Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
in 1969 and earned her
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
degree from the University of Detroit Law School in 1973. While in law school, she worked as a probation officer at a Detroit court. Her first job after law school was with the
Michigan Court of Appeals The Michigan Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court of the state of Michigan. It was created by the Michigan Constitution of 1963, and commenced operations in 1965. Its opinions are reported both in an official publication of ...
, where she served as a law clerk to Judge John Gillis. She next worked as a Wayne County assistant prosecutor. In 1979, she became an assistant U.S. Attorney, serving as chief of appeals; she later became the first woman to serve as chief assistant U.S. Attorney. In 1989, she became a partner at the Detroit law firm of Plunkett & Cooney. In 1992, Governor
John Engler John Mathias Engler (born October 12, 1948) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th Governor of Michigan from 1991 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he later worked for Business Roundtable, where '' The Hill'' ...
appointed her to the Michigan Court of Appeals. She was twice elected to that court and served as its chief judge from 1997 to 1998. Corrigan is a long-time member of the
Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquartered ...
, Michigan Lawyers Chapter. She was also president of The Incorporated Society of Irish-American Lawyers and of the Federal Bar Association, Detroit Chapter. A member of th
Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care
Corrigan has been recognized for her work on foster care and adoption issues, including ''
The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the '' Detroit Tribune'' on Februa ...
"Michiganian of the Year" award. Corrigan is the widow of Joseph D. Grano, a professor of constitutional law at
Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
. She has two children: Megan Grano, a comedian with Second City in Chicago, and Daniel Grano, an associate attorney with Flood, Lanctot, Connor & Stablein, PLLC, a law firm in Royal Oak, Michigan. She has supported several of
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
's nominees to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of ...
which includes the state of Michigan. She had this to say about nominee Richard A. Griffin:
I have known Judge Griffin since 1992, when I first joined the Michigan Court of Appeals. I was fortunate to hear cases on panels with Judge Griffin on many occasions during my seven years as a Court of Appeals judge. Judge Griffin is intellectually gifted. He is a spirited questioner who 'cuts to the chase'. He is consistently well-prepared for oral argument and offers incisive views on the assigned cases to his colleagues. He is current in all his own writing assignments and promptly circulates his votes on his colleagues' opinions. He acquired excellent work habits from private practice that he applies to the business of appellate judging

/blockquote> Corrigan had been mentioned as a George W. Bush Supreme Court candidates, potential nominee to the Supreme Court following the announced retirement of
Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...
and the withdrawal of
Harriet Miers Harriet Ellan Miers (born August 10, 1945) is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel to President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party since 1988, she previously served as White House Staff Secretary f ...
, and before President Bush's nomination of
Samuel Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has served ...
.
Jan Crawford Greenburg Jan Crawford, also known as Jan Crawford Greenburg, is a television journalist, author, and attorney. She serves as a political correspondent and chief legal correspondent for CBS News and previously for ABC News. She appears regularly on the CBS ...
recounted in her history of contemporary Supreme Court nominations that Corrigan declined to be considered for a vacancy because she did not desire to go through the ordeal of the nomination and confirmation process. Corrigan advocates the judicial philosophy of
textualism Textualism is a formalist theory in which the interpretation of the law is primarily based on the ordinary meaning of the legal text, where no consideration is given to non-textual sources, such as intention of the law when passed, the ...
, which "promotes adherence to the actual text of statutes". In an article in the ''New York University Annual Survey of American Law'', Corrigan argued that resort to history in interpreting a statute is a form of "dice loading". Maura D. Corrigan has two children, and five grand children. She was the wife of the late lawyer, Joe Grano. Her estimated net worth is 2 million dollars in U.S. currency.


Michigan Department of Human Services

The
Michigan Department of Human Services The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is a principal department of state of Michigan, headquartered in Lansing, that provides public assistance, child and family welfare services, and oversees health policy and management. ...
(DHS) is the state's second-largest agency. The DHS oversees almost 12,000 employees and has an annual budget of more than $6 billion to administer federal programs. The DHS staff handles more than 1.5 million medical assistance cases and approximately 1.7 million cash and food-assistance cases all across Michigan. It oversees Michigan's child and adult protective services, foster care, adoptions, juvenile justice, domestic violence, and child-support programs. The DHS also licenses adult foster care, child day care and child welfare facilities. In 2011 she caused major controversy in cutting students' access to food benefits. She also made headlines with statements about students' work ethic and their access to jobs. As DHS Director she oversaw the state's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program during the Flint water crisis.


Board positions

Corrigan sits on the board of research organization
Child Trends Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center based in Bethesda, Maryland that conducts research on children, children's families, child well-being, and factors affecting children's lives. History Child Trends was founded in 1979 and ...
.


See also

*
George W. Bush Supreme Court candidates Speculation abounded over potential nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States by President George W. Bush since before his presidency. In the summer of 2005, this speculation became newsworthy due to the announcement of the retireme ...


References


External links


Michigan Supreme Court website

Campaign contributions made by Maura Corrigan

Michigan Supreme Court Commentary Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corrigan, Maura D. 1948 births Living people American women judges Chief Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court Federalist Society members Marygrove College alumni Lawyers from Cleveland Politicians from Detroit Politicians from Lansing, Michigan State cabinet secretaries of Michigan University of Detroit Mercy alumni Politicians from Cleveland Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court 20th-century women judges 21st-century women judges