Christopher Murray
2002 - Present
2027
23
Christopher Murray is a judge of the Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals. He assumed office in 2002. His current term ends on January 1, 2027.
Murray ran for re-election for judge of the Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals. He won in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Additionally, in May 2015, Murray was appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to serve as a judge on the Michigan Court of Claims. He was re-appointed in 2019. This role is in addition to his appellate court duties. His term expired on May 1, 2021.[1][2]
Education
Murray received his undergraduate degree from Hillsdale College in 1985 and his J.D. from the University of Detroit School of Law in 1990.[3][4]
Career
- 2015 - Present: Judge, Michigan Court of Claims
- 2002 - Present: Judge, First District Court of Appeals
- 2000-2002: Judge, Wayne County Circuit Court
- 1997-2000: Attorney, Keller, Thoma, P.C., Detroit, Michigan
- 1995-1997: Deputy legal counsel, Governor John Engler
- 1990-1995: Attorney, Keller, Thoma, P.C., Detroit, Michigan [3][4]
Awards and associations
- Member, Board of Directors, Catholic Lawyers’ Society
- Member, Board of Directors, Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association
- Member, Board of Advisors, Michigan Chapter of the Federalist Society
- Member, Michigan Board of Law Examiners
- Member, University of Detroit Mercy Inns of Court [3]
Elections
2020
See also: Michigan intermediate appellate court elections, 2020
General election
General election for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals (3 seats)
Incumbent Karen Fort Hood, incumbent Christopher Murray, and incumbent Anica Letica won election in the general election for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Karen Fort Hood (Nonpartisan) | 37.9 | 594,032 |
| ✔ | Christopher Murray (Nonpartisan) | 31.8 | 497,982 | |
| ✔ | | Anica Letica (Nonpartisan) | 30.3 | 475,710 |
| Total votes: 1,567,724 | ||||
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Campaign finance
2014
See also: Michigan judicial elections, 2014
Murray ran for re-election to the First District Court of Appeals.
General: He was unopposed in the general election on November 4, 2014.
[5]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Christopher Murray did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Noteworthy cases
Martinko v. Whitmer (2020)
Michigan House of Representatives and Michigan Senate v. Gretchen Whitmer: On May 6, Republicans in the Michigan House and Senate filed a lawsuit challenging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's (D) emergency declarations issued to combat the novel coronavirus. The emergency declarations have been the source of several executive orders issued by Whitmer in response to the coronavirus pandemic, including the state's stay-at-home order. The lawsuit claims that Whitmer exceeded her authority under two laws that formed the basis of her emergency declaration—the 1976 Emergency Management Act and the 1945 Emergency Powers of the Governor Act.[6]
On May 21, Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Diane Stephens ruled against the Michigan legislature, dismissing the lawsuit. She wrote that Gov. Whitmer exceeded her authority under the 1976 law but not the 1945 law.[7]
On May 22, the Legislature asked the state Supreme Court to take up the case.[8]
RMGN and the Court of Appeals
In 2008, Reform Michigan Government Now (RMGN) put forward a proposal to reduce the Michigan Court of Appeals from 28 to 21 judges, based on term expiration dates, which would have shifted the court's political power from the Republicans to the Democrats. However, the proposal failed. Had the proposal passed, the court's political makeup would have changed from 16 Republican judges and 12 Democratic judges to 10 Republican judges and 11 Democratic judges--thereby eliminating six Republican judges and one Democratic judge. The judges targeted by the RMGN proposal were: Pat Donofrio, Joel Hoekstra, Donald Owens, David Sawyer, William Whitbeck, Kurtis Wilder and Helene White--the only Democrat affected by these suggested removals.[9]
Court rejects bid to remove judges in Kilpatrick case
According to the Detroit News, the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected a Wayne County Prosecutor's effort to remove every judge in the city's 36th District Court from overseeing proceedings in the criminal case against former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. With that ruling, the court discarded any idea of impropriety on the entire bench. In an opinion authored by Kirsten Frank Kelly, and signed by Kurtis Wilder and Christopher Murray: "That the judges of the 36th District Court may have relationships with witnesses beyond those prescribed in the court rule does not warrant recusal, in absence of showing bias (and none is alleged), because the role of the judge in a preliminary exam is not to gauge guilt or innocence, and generally does not require making credibility determinations."[10]
Michigan Fracking Ban Initiative (2018)
The Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan and LuAnne Kozma filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson arguing that the secretary of state has no authority to reject an initiative due to the election date reference on the petition. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson argued that the election at which the proponent intends the initiative to appear for needs to be specified on the petition. Judge Christopher Murray ruled in favor of plaintiffs that the initiative petition was "facially compliant with all statutory requirements" and that the secretary of state had to accept signatures from the committee.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Michigan Courts, "Order: Assignment of Judges to the Court of Claims and Reappointment of Chief Judge," accessed April 29, 2017
- ↑ Michigan Supreme Court, "Assignment of Judges to the Court of Claims and Reappointment of Chief Judge," April 18, 2019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Michigan Courts.gov, "First District Judges," accessed July 5, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Student Statesmanship Institute, "Christopher M. Murray: Michigan Court of Appeals Judge, Moot Court Judge," May 5, 2013
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2014 Official Michigan Primary Candidate Listing," accessed July 9, 2014
- ↑ The Detroit News, "Michigan House, Senate sue Gov. Whitmer, call emergency powers 'invalid'," May 6, 2020
- ↑ CNN, "Judge dismisses Michigan Legislature's lawsuit over governor's use of emergency powers," May 21, 2020
- ↑ The Detroit News, "Legislature asks Michigan Supreme Court to consider emergency powers case," May 26, 2020
- ↑ Democrats will take over on Michigan Court of Appeals
- ↑ The Detroit News, "Appeal's Court rejects request to disqualify local judges from Kilpatrick's criminal case," July 3, 2008
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