LANSING (WWJ) – Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget McCormack has announced she will not finish the remaining six years of her eight-year term.
McCormack announced Monday she will retire from the bench no later than Dec. 31, and no sooner than Nov. 22.
McCormack has spent 10 years on the court after being sworn in as the state’s 108th justice in 2013. She has served as Chief Justice since January 2019. She’s only the sixth woman to do so.
“A decade can be a common measuring point for personal and professional change,” McCormack said in a letter to colleagues and court staff. “Over the last 10 years, my kids grew up and went off to college and graduate school, we bought a pickup truck and an RV, and I have had the honor of serving as Chief Justice for the past four years.”
She said after a decade, “the time has come for me to move on, to let others lead, and to build on a foundation of progress.”
While McCormack has held multiple leadership roles in various associations and projects, including as a senior strategist in the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Future of the Legal Profession Initiative, she has not released any details on her future plans.
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By stepping down before the end of the year, McCormack’s departure will mean the Michigan Supreme Court’s partisan makeup will remain 4-3 in favor of Democrats, even if Gov. Gretchen Whitmer loses the November election to Republican challenger Tudor Dixon.
Whitmer called McCormack “a phenomenal public servant” and said she “worked tirelessly, both on and off the bench, to move our state courts forward.”
“The deep dedication and sound leadership she brought to our judiciary were matched only by her keen intellect, genuine warmth, and disarming wit,” Whitmer said in a press release. “Whatever she touched, she made better, and we are grateful for all she has done to serve Michiganders and our state.”
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