LANSING — An independent auditor will examine public and private disciplinary actions taken against Michigan judges to determine whether those actions disproportionately targeted Black judges.
The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission announced its intent Tuesday to hire the auditor, who will review the racial composition of judges who were subjects of complaints and how the commission handled each complaint.
"Though the commission believes its case dispositions show no actual or deliberate racial disparity, the commission recognizes that this is a very important issue and that the public will have more faith in the fairness of its decisions if their racial composition is reviewed by an independent auditor," a Monday statement from the commission said.
The decision was made after concerns were expressed by the Association of Black Judges of Michigan, the statement said. The association found five of nine public complaints the commission brought since 2016 have involved Black judges.
But the commission has argued those numbers don't provide the full context of the oversight body's work because they include only public cases.
In its own internal study in 2021, the commission analyzed five years of public and private cases and found there was no disparity because several judges not included in the population studied by the association had opted to either resign or negotiated a resolution such as suspension before a public action had been filed.
"The disparity cited by the ABJM appears to exist because the great majority of judges who choose to resign or to consent to a suspension are Caucasian, while the majority of judges who choose to proceed to a hearing are African American," the statement said. "... A judge's choice of how to proceed when under investigation is a personal decision that the commission does not control."
The commission maintained it was "aware of and sensitive to the need to act without bias," and noted its executive director previously helped to address implicit bias in the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Judicial Tenure Commission is composed of four judges elected by their peers, three individuals elected by the State Bar and two lay people appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
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