A former Detroit judge who was suspended from the bench for six years in 2023 has filed to run for one of the open judge positions in Detroit’s 36th District Court in the August primary, despite her suspension only being halfway through.
Tambir Ahmed, a resident of Wayne County, filed a lawsuit Monday in Michigan’s Court of Claims, asking Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to refuse to certify Kahlilia Davis, who submitted her nominating petitions to the state April 21 to run for one of six open 36th District Court positions in the Aug. 4 primary, according to Wayne County’s unofficial candidate list.
The Michigan Supreme Court suspended Davis in 2023 for six years from serving as a judge. The 2023 ruling makes it clear that if Davis is elected or appointed, she “will nevertheless be debarred from exercising the power and prerogatives of the office until at least the expiration of the suspension.”
Davis did not respond for comment.
Secretary of State Chief Communications Officer Angela Benander confirmed that a challenge has been made against Davis’s filing.
“The Bureau of Elections is now in the process of reviewing the challenge and will make a determination on her eligibility to appear on the ballot,” Benander said.
Davis was suspended after she was found to have engaged in a pattern of misconduct on the bench that “besmirched the judiciary’s reputation and prejudiced the administration of justice.” Davis was initially suspended by the Michigan Supreme Court in June 2020 and has not been on the bench since.
“An actual, justifiable controversy exists as to whether Ms. Davis is eligible to be a candidate for judicial office and whether the Secretary must refuse certification under the Supreme Court Order and controlling Michigan law,” Ahmed wrote in his lawsuit.
Ahmed requested Benson declare Davis cannot be a candidate or hold office during her suspension.
The Supreme Court determined in 2023 that Davis’ misconduct was “pervasive” and included the continued abuse of contempt powers in two different cases; multiple summary dismissals of cases where a particular process server Davis did not trust was used; the intentional disconnection of recording equipment in her courtroom; and the recording of proceedings in her courtroom on her personal cellphone.
Much of her misconduct was done while she was on the bench or in her capacity as a judge, the Supreme Court found. It also impacted and prejudiced the administration of justice and undermined the ability of the justice system to find the truth or reach the most just result in a case. She dismissed claims that potentially had merit, and people were not able to properly appeal decisions because there was no transcript of hearings or recording from which a transcript could have been generated, the court found.
“This type of conduct is certainly beyond the pale for a member of our judiciary,” the justices wrote.
Davis’ term as judge in Detroit’s 36th District Court expired in January 2023, but she did not run for reelection because the Michigan Secretary of State determined she lied on her affidavit of identity and therefore was not eligible.
David was accused twice of misconduct by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, which investigates judicial misconduct. She was cited in March 2020 for holding court proceedings without hearings being on the record. The new filing was an amendment of the 2020 case, so there was no determination on it.
Davis was under fire since just after her term began in January 2017. She did not work for the first few months of her term and told WJBK she had an infection after surgery and did not want to put the courthouse at risk, the Associated Press reported in March 2017. Former Chief Judge Nancy Blount removed Davis from her docket in October 2017 because of her “demonstrated inability” to do her job.
Blount also ordered Davis in February 2019 to not bring any weapons to work, required her to go through a security screening before entering the courthouse and banned her from using the judge’s door. A month later, Blount banned Davis from hearing cases because she was not using video recording equipment during hearings.
kberg@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit judge suspended for 6 years for misconduct files to run again
Reporting by Kara Berg, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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