LANSING, Mich. – During Michigan Supreme Court Justice Kyra Harris Bolden’s first campaign, a critic told her she wasn’t Michelle Obama or Kamala Harris, “but you feel emboldened to run for this office.”

She later named her first child Emerson, so it could be shortened to “Em Bolden.” The word has driven her ever since.

Bolden, now 36, won that race, for the statehouse in 2018, and in 2022 she was appointed as the youngest-ever justice, and first Black woman, on Michigan’s top court. Voters affirmed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s choice by electing Bolden to her seat in November.

“It’s been a long journey for me,” Bolden told The Associated Press, one that began generations ago when her great-grandfather was lynched and her family fled the South.

Michigan has a long legacy of electing women to its highest court. When Democratic-backed candidate Kimberly Ann Thomas joins Bolden on the bench in January, five of the seven justices will be women. It is the sixth time a female majority has made up the court, according to the Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society.

But only 41 Black women have ever served on a state supreme court, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which tracks diversity in the judicial system.

Bolden’s election means that Black people in Michigan — about 14% of the population — still have representation. Across the state line in Ohio, where Justice Melody Stewart had been the first Black woman justice, her reelection loss makes for an all-white court.

In Kentucky, Court of Appeals Judge Pamela Goodwine became the first Black woman elected justice. Kentucky also will have its first female chief justice and, for the first time, a female majority.

It was an act of racial terror that sent Bolden on her path to the court. She didn’t know the details until she was nearly a college graduate in psychology and spent some time with her aging maternal great-grandmother, who shared family recipes and history, including what really happened to Jesse Lee Bond.

According to the Equal Justice Initiative, Bond was lynched in 1939 in Arlington, Tennessee, after asking a store owner for a receipt. Bond was fatally shot, castrated and dumped in the Loosahatchie River. Two men were swiftly acquitted in the murder.

Bolden said she is still trying to reconcile with the trauma this caused.

“I wanted families to see justice in a way my family had not seen justice,” she told the AP.

So she took action: earning her degree at Detroit Mercy Law School and working as a defense attorney before serving on the House Judiciary Committee, where she pursued criminal justice reform and domestic violence prevention.

“She believes in justice and believes in fairness for everybody,” said her mother, Cheryl Harris, with pride heavy in her voice. “And to see her in this position — it’s making me tear up right now.”

Goodwine, for her part, said she was inspired as a teenager by the work of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice. She started as a court stenographer and worked her way up through the four court levels of Kentucky, making history at almost every step along the way.

“It is absolutely essential that our younger generations are able to see someone who looks like them in every position, particularly a position of power,” Goodwine said.

Bolden broke another barrier knocking on doors as the first Michigan Supreme Court candidate to run while pregnant, according to Vote Mama Foundation, a group that tracks mothers running for office.

“There are so many people that don’t know that this is achievable,” Bolden said.

U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, a Michigan Democrat who served in Congress from 2015 through 2022, spent years working to see a Black woman like herself serve as a justice.

“I just sit back, you know, with such pride,” Lawrence said. “She’s a hard worker and she’s what the state needs.”

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LANSING, MI – Amid infighting and Republican boycotting, Democrats’ final days of control over the state House will end in disarray, with dozens of bills now set to die on the floor.

The Michigan House will convene one last time this year, at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 31, only to adjourn the session. No bills will be taken up, Michigan House Democratic Caucus spokesperson Jess Travers said Thursday, Dec. 19.

Thursday’s House session, which was supposed to be the last one of the year, ended without any votes being taken due to a lack of necessary attendance, or quorum.

Michigan House Democrats order police to retrieve boycotting Republican members

Some bills that were supposed to be taken up this week in the House included opening lawmakers and the governor to Freedom of Information Act requests, creating a program to help low-income households and seniors who struggle to pay their water bills, and more.

Now those bills, and hundreds of others that haven’t yet been approved by the House, will have to be reintroduced next year in a divided government, with Republicans controlling the House.

The state Senate remains in session Thursday evening and is scheduled to return for session Friday and Monday. The Senate can still send bills to the governor that have already been approved by the House, such as an expansion of the state’s hate crime law.

The Senate will push on amid what Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said was the House abandoning major legislation that would have helped Michigan residents.

“I am deeply disappointed that the House of Representatives called it quits while so many great pieces of legislation were ready for the green light,” Brinks said. “Legislators are tasked with the responsibility of using every tool available to advocate for their constituents and communities, and ‘frustrated’ is too light of a word to describe my dismay that the House failed to meet its obligations in this historic moment.

“The Michigan Senate is still in session, and we have the opportunity to do good – a lot of good. In the coming hours, residents can count on us to act on key items that will protect the state’s children, improve on-the-job rights for workers, and more.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office did not return a request for comment.

The House was brought to a halt this week by attendance issues that stopped lawmakers from acting on any bills due to a lack of quorum.

The lack of quorum caused an early adjournment without voting first on Wednesday and then again on Thursday.

House Republicans had boycotted every session since Friday, demanding Democrats take up legislation to stop an impending minimum wage hike to $15 and a removal of the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers. The measures weren’t put on either Wednesday’s or Thursday’s agendas.

That left Democrats needing all 56 members to attend session for a quorum. But Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, refused to attend unless certain priorities, like money for Detroit Public Schools, the water affordability program and retaining tipped wages, were taken up.

Party infighting, GOP protest halt Michigan House session as Democrats’ control nears end

In a rare move, House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, on Thursday issued a call of the House, compelling all representatives, specifically the absent Republicans and Whitsett, to attend session or be brought in by police.

“Being a leader means showing up for work & showing up for the people you serve,” Tate wrote on social media around 1:20 p.m. Thursday.

That effort didn’t work, and an hour later Democratic leadership announced the session would adjourn due to a lack of quorum. That’s when the final Dec. 31 session day was scheduled.

Travers confirmed the call of the House has been canceled.

After the House adjourned Thursday, Whitsett appeared in the Capitol Building alongside the Republican leader in the House, House Speaker-elect Matt Hall, for an interview with reporters.

One of Whitsett’s conditions for attending session was that the bill package creating the water affordability program would be taken up by the House. After she skipped Wednesday’s session, the item was added to the agenda Thursday.

However, Hall said Democrats put the bill package on the agenda to “bait” Whitsett into attending session Thursday and never intended to approve it.

Once she was in the Capitol Building, Tate issued the call of the House with the intention of compelling Whitsett to attend session and not being able to leave, he claimed.

“When she told me that she made the decision to come up here to Lansing because she wanted to fight for the people of Detroit and her district and get some specific issues done for Detroit, I told her she was welcome in my office and I would help her get those done, even the ones that I don’t agree with and I’m not going to vote for,” Hall said. “We wanted an honest conversation, a negotiated deal, so all those bills for Detroit would get done.”

Hall said that rather than negotiate a deal, Tate sought to compel Whitsett’s attendance.

Whitsett said one of her largest priorities was getting the House to take up legislation that would’ve provided millions of dollars for Detroit Public Schools. But that was never put on the agenda.

“These are all promises never kept. This is the poorest leadership I have ever seen in my six years,” Whitsett said of Tate. “It’s a doggone shame in order to get help on issues I had to go to the Republican leader. What does that say about (Tate)?”

Hall will lead the Republicans in their House majority next session. The Senate will remain under Democratic control.

If you’re planning to have a glass of wine, a mixed drink or beer on Christmas, you should plan to stock up ahead of time.

Michigan cuts off alcohol sales at bars, restaurants and stores early on Christmas Eve, and prohibits sales on Christmas until mid-day.

Here’s what you need to know:

When can I buy alcohol on Christmas?

Michigan closes alcohol sales at midnight on Christmas Eve and prohibits sales until noon on Christmas Day. The restriction applies to all licensees that sell alcoholic liquor for consumption on or off the licensed premises.

Who can buy alcohol in Michigan during the holidays?

State law restricts alcohol purchases to people who are 21 and older. On Christmas, the most recent legal birth date will be Dec. 25, 2004.

However, cashiers, clerks, bartenders, waiters and waitresses, and others are prohibited from selling to any visibly intoxicated patron regardless of age.

Does eggnog contain alcohol?

The holiday drink can be made alcohol-free or include a spirit.

Spirited versions often include bourbon, rum or brandy.

What are alcohol sales hours on New Year’s?

While Christmas hours are generally shorter, locations that sell alcohol for on-premises consumption are allowed to remain in operation New Year’s Eve until 4 a.m. on Jan. 1. Patrons may consume alcohol until 4:30 a.m.

Can I buy alcohol in another state and bring it home for the holiday?

A person of legal age may bring up to 312 ounces of alcoholic liquor that contains less than 21% alcohol by volume — about 24 12-ounce containers of beer or 12 750-milliliter containers of wine — from another state without prior approval.

Can I purchase alcohol online and have it shipped to me?

Yes, in some cases. Michigan requires a special direct license for out-of-state shippers.

Bell’s Brewery notes that shipping beer directly to consumers is illegal in Michigan, but that some third-party companies can handle the transaction via retailers. UberEats lists alcohol delivery from retailers as a service on its website.

The U.S. Postal Service prohibits most shipments of alcohol.

If you purchase from a business, FedEx will ship alcohol.

UPS lists alcohol as a restricted item, which it ships under specific criteria.