Michigan politics is in an uproar, particularly surrounding the state's high court, which has become one of the most dramatic scenes among state supreme courts across the country.
According to The Midwesterner, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s political action committee is throwing big piles of cash at Democratic Michigan Supreme Court candidates in an effort to stack the court with as many Dems as possible.
The conflict is controversial because the state's high court is currently overseeing cases related to her office.
Many believe it's a clear attempt to ultimately gain favorable rulings by stacking the court with political allies.
It doesn't take an expert to understand what appears to be going on, as Benson's PAC dropped a staggering $165,000 in an effort to get more Democrats elected to the high court's bench.
Brad Smith, law professor at Capital University Law School in Ohio explained that he believes at the very least, there are ethical concerns at play.
“I think there would be an ethical question for the judge and there’d probably be an ethical question for the secretary of state side as well," Smith said.
"Whether it’s illegal is a different question," Smith added. "But there are a lot of things that aren’t illegal or even exact violations of an ethical code that voters might want to take into account."
The outlet provided a clear example of how many voters might see a massive ethical conflict regarding the campaign donations to certain candidates.
Campaign finance records show Benson’s Michigan Legacy PAC in April gave Supreme Court Justice Kyra Bolden $82,500 for her campaign to retain her seat on the state’s highest court, which has the final word in cases involving the Secretary of State.
The move also has critical national implications regarding the presidential election, as the outlet noted:
Bolden played a key role in the high court’s Democrat majority allowing Benson to keep Robert F. Kennedy’s name on the Michigan presidential ballot despite the candidate dropping out of the race to endorse Trump. The decision is widely viewed as beneficial to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
Kaitlyn Buss, assistant editorial page editor for The Detroit News, pointed out how the donations from the PAC counteract Benson's insistence that she's running her office in a bipartisan fashion.
“It calls into question Benson’s claim to run her office in a bipartisan manner,” Buss wrote.
She added, “Worse, it fuels growing voter mistrust in the integrity and impartiality of the [electoral] process."
It was noted that Benson's PAC has not donated to a single Republican candidate since being formed last year. No surprise there.
