FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 26, 2024
Media Contact: Aaron Pelo, apelo@miaflcio.org | 734.355.2741
Michigan AFL-CIO Endorses Bolden, Thomas for Michigan Supreme Court
LANSING, Mich. – Today, the Michigan AFL-CIO announced its endorsement of Michigan Supreme Court candidates Kyra Harris Bolden and Kimberly Ann Thomas. Justice Bolden is running as an incumbent after being appointed to the bench by Governor Whitmer.
“There are no better or more qualified candidates to serve on our state’s highest court than Justice Bolden and Kimberly Ann Thomas,” said Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron BIEBER. “At a time when ultra-wealthy corporations repeatedly try to skirt the law in order to exploit their workers, maximize profits, and suppress our collective bargaining rights, Michiganders, now more than ever, need justices on the bench that will uphold all the progress we’ve made for Michigan workers.”
Kimberly Ann Thomas is a University of Michigan Law School professor with a wealth of experience representing low-income Michiganders and fighting for equitable access to the justice system. She also served on the bipartisan task force on juvenile justice reform. Justice Kyra Harris Bolden was appointed to the bench by Governor Whitmer and sworn-in on January 1, 2023. Prior to her service on the Supreme Court, she served as a State Representative and as a law clerk and litigator.
In the wake of Justice David Viviano’s announcement not to seek reelection, Court of Appeals Judge Mark Boonstra has launched a campaign for the Michigan Supreme Court. Boonstra has a documented history of extreme opinions; he equated the Whitmer administration’s efforts to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic with “totalitarianism,” and, more recently, received widespread condemnation from legal organizations after deliberately refusing to acknowledge a defendant’s preferred pronouns.
The Michigan AFL-CIO, Michigan’s largest labor organization, is a federation representing forty different labor organizations, eighteen different central labor councils, and eight constituency groups representing over 1 million union members and their families.
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