Robert P. Young, Jr.
| Robert P. Young Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court | |
|
In office January 5, 2011 – January 6, 2017 |
|
| Preceded by | Marilyn Kelly |
| Succeeded by | Stephen Markman |
| Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court | |
|
Assumed office December 30, 1998 |
|
| Appointed by | John Engler |
| Preceded by | Conrad Mallett |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 13, 1951 Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (BA, JD) |
Robert P. Young Jr. (born June 13, 1951) is a Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. Young was first appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1999, elected in 2000 and 2002, and again won reelection in 2010 for a term ending in 2019. Justice Young announced he would be retiring from the court at the end of April 2017. Young is a self-described judicial traditionalist or textualist. Currently, he is the highest black elected official serving the State of Michigan. Young is readily distinguishable by his bow tie.
Young was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Young has recounted how he was raised in a city that was operating under de facto segregation at the time; when he was a child, his family was one of the first to integrate northwest Detroit. He attended Detroit public elementary schools and graduated from Detroit Country Day School in 1970, with honors from Harvard College in 1974, and from Harvard Law School in 1977.
In 1978, Young joined the law firm of Dickinson Wright, where he became a partner in 1982. In 1992, he joined AAA Michigan where he served as general counsel. In 1995, Young was appointed to the Michigan Court of Appeals, and later elevated to the Michigan Supreme Court by Governor John Engler in 1999 to replace resigning Chief Justice Conrad Mallett.
At his investiture ceremony on February 18, 1999, Judge Damon Keith, of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals administered the oath of office to Young. To mark the occasion, his former law partner at Dickinson Wright, Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer explained that Young possessed "excellent skill, a great work ethic, and great judicial temperament." Attorney General and future-Governor Jennifer Granholm called Young "a man of tremendous talent and assiduousness[,] ... an unbelievably fair person[,] ... [and] a rich, wonderful, thoughtful, and fair asset to the Supreme Court of Michigan." Governor John Engler explained that Young "is a brilliant scholar, learned in both the state and United States Constitutions."
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