MICHIGAN JUDICIAL CANDIDATES:
Supreme Court:
David Viviano is a rule-of-law judge who received his education at Hillsdale College and the University of Michigan Law School.  He believes in our constitutional framework:  the role of a judge is limited to interpreting and applying the Constitution and duly written laws as they were written.  He understands that a judge must defer to the policy choices made by the legislature and not attempt to impose his own policy preferences from the bench.  He was instrumental in the adoption of reforms to the jury system in MI, and expanding the use of video conferences to conduct court hearings.  Prior to joining the MI Supreme Court in 2013, he served as Chief Judge of the Macomb County 16th Circuit and Probate Courts.  (http://vivianoforjustice.com/judicial-philosophy/)
 
Joan Larsen is a rule-of-law judge who believes that judges should interpret the laws according to what they say, not according to what the judges wish they would say, nor are they to make or re-write laws from the bench.  She graduated, first in her class, from Northwestern University School of Law prior to clerking for the Hon. David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. District and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.  Subsequently, she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice, and served for more than ten years on the Faculty of the University of Michigan Law School.  She was appointed to the MI Supreme Court on September 30, 2015.  (http://justicejoan.com/judicial-philosophy/)
 
1st District Court of Appeals, Kurtis T. Wilder:  Judge Wilder believes in the rule of law, striving always to be fair and impartial, applying the law in accordance with its original intent and in keeping with the Constitution.  He has served on the Court since his appointment in 1998.  He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1981, and received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1984.  He practiced law in Lansing and Detroit prior to serving as chief judge of the Washtenaw County trial court.  (https://ballotpedia.org/Kurtis_Wilder)
 
MICHIGAN STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION CANDIDATES:
Tom McMillin is a former member of the MI House of Representatives and former Chairman of the House Education Committee.  As such, he led successful efforts to stop implementation on national student assessment schemes, and to give parents greater freedom and choice in directing their children’s education.  He believes that schools’ allegiance belongs to parents in the local community—not to national standards.  He wants to return federal control of education to the states, and state control to parents and local school boards.  He opposes Common Core and supported legislation that would de-fund it.  He also opposes the transgender agenda; and promotes and defends educational alternatives, including charter, private, and home schools.  From his web site:  “The answer is local control: parents and teachers know what is best.”  (http://www.tom4sbe.com/)
 
Nikki Snyder is a mother of three young children, a nurse, an adjunct faculty member at Washtenaw Community College, and was formerly an adjunct professor at University of Detroit Mercy.  She wants school boards to be accountable to their local school districts; to improve school curricula and services; and safety at school to be a priority for all students, not just a special group of students.  Instead of seeking more financial funding for schools, she wants more effective instruction from teachers along with parental and community involvement in schools.  She favors developmentally appropriate curricula for students; and strong, locally controlled, accountable schools that present “traditional educational values.”  She opposes Common Core and wants to get rid of it.  She believes that local control is the answer to bathroom policies, curriculum, and teacher effectiveness.  (http://www.nikkisnyder.net/)