Michael Riordan
2012 - Present
2025
12
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Michael Riordan is a judge of the Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals. He assumed office in 2012. His current term ends on January 1, 2025.
Riordan ran for re-election for judge of the Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Education
Riordan received his B.A. from Michigan State University in 1982 and his J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 1990.[1]
Career
After law school, Riordan clerked for Judge Robert E. DeMascio of the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Before joining the Michigan Court of Appeals, Riordan served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 1998 to 2012. Earlier Riordan was a senior attorney in the enforcement division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and an assistant general counsel for Northwestern Mutual Financial.[1] Riordan teaches securities regulation at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.[2]
Associations
- Member, State Bar of Michigan Board of Commissioners
- Vice-president, University of Detroit Mercy Law Alumni Association
- Past president, Federal Bar Association of the Eastern District of Michigan
- Past president, Incorporated Society of Irish American Lawyers
- Board of advisors, Federalist Society, Michigan Lawyers Chapter
- Board member, Catholic Lawyers Society[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Michigan intermediate appellate court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals (2 seats)
Incumbent Kirsten Frank Kelly and incumbent Michael Riordan won election in the general election for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kirsten Frank Kelly (Nonpartisan) | 58.0 | 625,407 |
| ✔ |  | Michael Riordan (Nonpartisan) | 42.0 | 452,696 |
| Total votes: 1,078,103 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Kirsten Frank Kelly and incumbent Michael Riordan advanced from the primary for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
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Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Riordan in this election.
2018
General election
General election for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals (2 seats)
Incumbent Kirsten Frank Kelly and incumbent Michael Riordan won election in the general election for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kirsten Frank Kelly (Nonpartisan) | 56.1 | 572,883 |
| ✔ | | Michael Riordan (Nonpartisan) | 43.9 | 447,658 |
| Total votes: 1,020,541 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Selection method
- See also: Nonpartisan election of judges
The 28 judges of the Michigan Court of Appeals are chosen in nonpartisan elections and must face re-election if they wish to continue serving. A full term on the court is six years. Candidates are placed on the ballot via nonpartisan primaries or by nominating petitions.[3] The process for filling vacancies on the appeals court is identical to that used by the supreme court. With the assistance of the judicial qualifications committee, the governor names a replacement to serve until the next general election.[3]
Qualifications
To be elected to the court, a judge must:
- be a qualified elector of his or her district;
- be licensed to practice law in the state;
- have at least five years of law practice experience;
- be under the age of 70.[3]
Sitting judges who reach age 70 are allowed to serve out the remainder of their term.[4]
Selection of the chief judge
The chief judge of the appeals court is selected by supreme court appointment to terms lasting two years.[3]
2012
Riordan was elected to the First District Court of Appeals after running unopposed in the general election on November 6, 2012.[5][6]
- See also: Michigan judicial elections, 2012
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michael Riordan did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Noteworthy cases
Appeals court denies appeal but sends message to legislature (2015)
A three-judge panel for the Third District Court of Appeals in Michigan denied an inmate's request to appeal his sentence but sent a message to the Michigan Legislature about the current state of the Sex Offender Registry Act (SORA).
Vincent Bosca was growing marijuana on his property in 2011. Teenagers robbed his property of the crop; Bosca's teenage son told him who the boys were. Together, the two decided on revenge for the theft. Bosca's son lured the two boys back to Bosca's house, where Bosca and two adult men were waiting for them. The men kept the teens locked in Bosca's basement and used terror to teach them a lesson. The teens were not seriously physically injured, but Bosca was charged with—among other things—unlawful imprisonment of a minor. In Michigan, a person convicted of this offense, no matter the nature of the crime itself, has to register on the sex offender list. Neither teenagers alleged any sexual abuse.
The Third District Court of Appeals, in its opinion denying Bosca's request to appeal the portion of his sentence requiring him to register under the SORA, wrote that:
| “ | There nonetheless remains something troubling about the fact that defendant, while an offender who may properly and constitutionally be required to register in furtherance of the purpose of [Sex Offenders Registration Act], is deemed a ‘sex offender’ even though the offenses of which he was convicted, including the offenses for which he is required to register, as well as the conduct underlying them, were wholly non-sexual in nature.[7] | ” |
| —Third District Court of Appeals[8] | ||
Bosca's attorney said his client may appeal this latest denial. The three-judge panel presiding over this current request to appeal included Mark Boonstra, Jane Beckering and Michael Riordan.
Articles:
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Michigan Courts, "First District Judges," accessed October 22, 2015
- ↑ Detroit Mercy Law, "Adjunct faculty," accessed October 22, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Michigan," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Daily, "Washtenaw County judge announces early retirement," May 1, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "Official Election Results: 1st District Court of Appeals Judge," accessed June 4, 2015
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2012 Unofficial Michigan Primary Candidate Listing," accessed June 4, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Washington Post, "How someone who didn’t commit a sexual crime can be forced to register as a sex offender," April 1, 2015
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