The Michigan Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

of the state of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. It was created by the

Michigan Constitution The Constitution of the State of Michigan is the governing document of the U.S. state of Michigan. It describes the structure and function of the state's government. There have been four constitutions approved by the people of Michigan. The fi ...

of 1963, and commenced operations in 1965. Its opinions are reported both in an official publication of the State of Michigan, ''Michigan Appeals Reports'', as well as the unofficial, privately published ''

North Western Reporter The ''North Western Reporter'' and ''North Western Reporter, Second Series'' are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for West Publishing Company, which is now part of Thomso ...

'', published by

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

. Appeals from this court's decisions go to 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 ...

History

The court originally had only nine

judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...

. The number was steadily increased by the Michigan Legislature to accommodate the court's growing caseload—to 12 in 1969, to 18 in 1974, to 24 in 1988, and to 28 in 1993. In 2012, Michigan Governor

Rick Snyder Richard Dale Snyder (born August 19, 1958) is an American business executive, venture capitalist, attorney, accountant, and politician who served as the 48th governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Snyder previ ...

signed into law legislation which provided for the transition of each of the court's 4 election districts to 6 judges, which will bring the court back to 24 judges over time through attrition.

Overview

The court has 25 judges who are elected from four

electoral districts An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

for 6-year terms on a

non-partisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

ballot. Vacancies are filled by the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. Judges or candidates who reach the age of 70 are not allowed to run for election. Cases are heard by panels of 3 judges, similarly to the

U.S. Courts of Appeals The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. The courts of appeals are divided into 11 numbered circuits that cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals fr ...

. Like most appellate courts, the Court of Appeals observes the principle of ''

stare decisis A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...

'', where a court's reasoning in its past precedents binds its present decisions. When a panel of the court disagrees with a prior precedent, it must abide by the earlier decision in deciding the case at hand. When a panel expresses its disagreement with a prior precedent, there is a mechanism to convene a special 7-member "conflict panel" (similar to the ''

en banc In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller ...

'' procedure in the

) that resolves the conflict between the earlier decision and the expressed desire of a panel of the court's judges to depart from that precedent. Unlike the circuits of the federal courts, the Michigan Court of Appeal's precedents apply are applied statewide regardless of the district in which an opinion is handed down.

Districts

The court has four electoral districts: *1st District is based in

Detroit 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 th ...

*2nd District is based in

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

*3rd District is based in

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

*4th District is based in

Lansing Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, makin ...

Due to the geographic size of the 4th District, the court will, on occasion, schedule a panel to hear cases in a northern Michigan city (such as Marquette, Petoskey, or

Traverse City Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

), for the convenience of the parties. The 2nd District does not have its own courtroom. Each district elects six or seven judges, but the judges on the various panels are not drawn from specific districts. There are also four case filing districts based around geographic proximity to the court's physcial records; because of this, the lines of the electoral districts and case filing districts do not correspond.

Current judges

First district

Second District

Third District

Fourth District

References

External links

Homepage of the Michigan Court of AppealsHistory of the court
{{Authority control Michigan state courts State appellate courts of the United States Courts and tribunals established in 1963 Legal history of Michigan 1963 establishments in Michigan