Pronouns in the Courts

In December 2021 a Michigan Court of Appeals judge published an opinion in which he insulted transgender people and declared his refusal to “conform to the wokeness of the day” by respecting the pronouns with which they identify. Leading a coalition of organizations, the ACLU of Michigan wrote a letter to the Michigan Supreme Court in January 2022 urging the Court to take action to educate judges and ensure that our courts treat transgender people fairly and with respect. In January 2023 the Court published for public comment a proposed amendment to the Michigan Court Rules that would allow litigants and their attorneys to identify their pronouns in court papers and would require judges to use the correct pronouns when addressing or referring to them. In March 2023 we submitted a detailed public comment urging the Court to adopt the new rule and testified in favor of the rule at a public hearing in June 2023. (ACLU Attorneys Jay Kaplan and Dan Korobkin.)