Welcome to the ABJM Members Portal
2024 Worship Service
In case you missed the worship service or just want to reexperience it click on the link below to watch the recording of the livestream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ezsGbqNoNA
The Honorable Cylenthia LaToye Miller generously created a photo gallery click below to see some of the wonderful photos she has shared with us.
During the Michigan Supreme Court Judicial Conference in Grand Rapids several ABJM members gathered for dinner at 40 Acres Soul Kitchen which is owned by the family of Judge Angela Ross. To learn more about the restaurant visit www.fortyacresgr.com. If you have pictures from the conference you would like to share on this website please send them to our webmaster Judge Lillard qiana.denise.lillard@3rdcc.org
ACLU & NAACP Join ABJM in Our Request to the Michigan Supreme Court for an Independent Audit of the Judicial Tenure Commission
Click the links below to review ACLU of Michigan’s and NAACP Detroit Branch’s letters to the Michigan Supreme Court.
ACLU_Letter_to_MSC.pdf (mcusercontent.com)
NAACPLetter_to_Elizabeth_Clement_042523.pdf (mcusercontent.com)
Please Save the Dates
ABJM Holiday Celebration- December 13, 2024 (in Detroit)
ABJM Annual Worship Service- February 23, 2025 1:00 p.m. at Pentecost Missionary Baptist Church in Romulus, MI.
Upcoming Events & Other News You Can Use
You are needed! Please contribute to our civic communities by volunteering for We the People!
We the People is one of the most impactful programs to elevate and celebrate civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions for all its students. You are needed to listen to students testify on critical constitutional questions and engage in dialogue on issues of the day.
The High School District events are just around the corner.
Please join us for these half day events –
Tuesday, November 12 at Oakland Schools and
Friday, November 15 at the Kent ISD.
Michigan’s We the People state showcase is scheduled for Friday, January 10, 2025 at MSU College of Law.
Volunteer Sign-Ups are Here. Please feel free to share this flyer with all your network. Let’s show up for the future of our civic communities.
Curious as to the impact of We the People? See this recent article highlighting one school’s experience this past year. Stay tuned for more information on the overall impact of We the People plus information regarding elementary showcases, middle school showcases, and the 2025 Civic Education Learning Week.
Please share widely!
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Judges Urge Senators To Move Judicial Protection Bills
Senators heard testimony from judicial officials Thursday October 17, 2024 calling on them to pass legislation shielding their personal identifying information and that of their family members to prevent potential intimidation or physical harm from angry defendants or members of the public.
“Judges … are held accountable just like other public officials, and the best way, I think, to hold judges accountable is through the ballot box, but this is intended to make sure that judges are able to exercise their roles as effectively as possible without any additional intimidation or interference,” Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi), sponsor of HB 5724 Track, told the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee Track.
Breen said her bill is intended to ensure the safety of judges and their families, without intimidation or interference.
Under HB 5724 Track, judges would be able to request that a public body or other person not publicly post or display certain information about them or their immediate family members.
Members were told the bill is modeled after federal law and that multiple other states have similar legislation.
Judge Esther Salas of the U.S District Court for the District of New Jersey previously testified before a House panel, outlining the 2020 incident in which a defendant came to her home and fatally shot her son at their doorstep. Her husband, Mark, was also injured in the attack (See Gongwer Michigan Report, June 5, 2024).
She detailed her experience to senators on Thursday.
“The most important thing for all of you to understand is that I didn’t see it coming,” Salas said. “Judges need to be able to do their jobs without fear of retribution, reprisal or death. … We have to make it hard for them to be able to find us. We have to make it harder for them to try to intimidate judges, harass us, and really, I think, jeopardize democracy.”
Senior Judge David McKeague of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals testified in support of the bill. He also mentioned the incident involving the shooter at Salas’s home.
“Until this time, in 2020, we were largely content to be reactive,” McKeague said. “With this tragedy, everything changed, and the need to respond proactively to protect federal judges and their families became paramount to our national judicial security agenda.”
An S-2 substitute was adopted Thursday, but no further action was taken.
Under the substitute, the period in which personal identifying information that is already publicly posted would need to be removed following a judge’s request to a public body would be reduced from 10 business days to five business days.
Further language was added stating public bodies can comply by redacting the specified personal identifying information that is publicly posted or by masking the entire contents of a document or record that contains the information. This change would not alter a public body’s requirement to respond to requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act.
Several items were added to the list of exemptions for which the bill would apply to. These were added to ensure access to a judge and family members’ information does not affect their ability to get a car or home loan or for matters such as those related to insurance or health care.
Multiple new definitions were also added to the bill.
Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) said he supported the concept but raised questions about instances of a judge owning widespread business assets that might be able to be shielded under the bill.
Runestad used the example of where a judge might have an extensive network of businesses and other properties that could be shielded.
“The problem I’m having is with the idea is that a judge could have a business in Alaska, in Europe, nothing can be disclosed,” Runestad said. “If you have a summer home and you visit it, yeah, that makes sense. But any and every business that a judge owns, this is going backwards.”
He compared the bill to efforts by the Legislature to improve legislative branch and executive branch transparency of financial information to prevent possible conflicts of interest.
Copyright 2024, Gongwer News Service, Inc. All rights reserved.
2024-2025 Meeting Dates
November 12, 2024 (pushed back one week to accommodate Election Day)
December 3, 2024 (this meeting may be canceled if there is no business due to the Holiday Celebration)
January 7, 2025
February 4, 2025 (this meeting may be canceled if there is no business due to Annual Worship Service)
March 4, 2025
April 1, 2025
Annual Meeting May 6, 2025 (Elections)
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS (5:30 p.m.- 7:00 p.m.):