Oakland County judge's trainings in Dubai, South Africa, Panama covered by public money
Most every job requires more training these days, and that includes being a judge. New rules in Michigan require that judges take at least 24 hours of “continuing judicial education” every two years.
The new training is on the internet so judges don’t need to leave their courthouses. And it’s free. But some who wear judicial robes may wish to keep visiting distant locales for costly professional conferences, as they’ve quietly been doing for years.
Take the Honorable Debra Nance, a district judge in Southfield. According to expense records obtained by the Free Press, Nance in January traveled to a 10-day professional conference, one that’s not required by the state of Michigan, in the African nation of Ghana — more than 5,000 miles from Detroit. The cost? More than $4,800, all of it covered by Nance’s employer, the 46th District Court.
Last year, Nance traveled to a conference in Dubai, a city of luxury hotels in the United Arab Emirates, more than 7,000 miles from Detroit. That tab? Over $4,600. In previous years, Nance traveled to judicial conferences in Panama, the Dominican Republic and South Africa, each trip costing thousands of dollars, and each charged to the court’s budget, according to expense records obtained by the Free Press.
So, how might flying to Africa improve Nance’s ability to administer justice? Documents obtained by the Free Press show that two seminars were held at the lengthy conference in Ghana. One was called “Comparative Law: Commonalities & Differences between U.S. & Ghahaian Law.” The other was “Domestic Violence at Home and Abroad.” It may seem odd that a district judge in Michigan, who is often focused on driving violations and landlord-tenant cases, would need training in the legal systems of foreign nations.
Traveling jurists
Luxury travel for judges has come under scrutiny at the nation’s highest level. That happened with news coverage of the lack of oversight for U.S. Supreme Court justices. The spotlight for much of that coverage fell on Justice Clarence Thomas who, reporters revealed, had for decades taken luxury vacations as the guest of a real-estate billionaire. Thomas’ trips, while inviting conflicts of interest, occurred at no public cost. Neither did they involve training or professional networking. As well, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was outed for being a hedge-fund billionaire’s guest on an Alaskan fishing trip that ProPublica reporters estimated would’ve cost well over $100,000, had Alito paid his way. Alito neither disclosed the trip on his annual financial disclosures to the court nor did he recuse himself from voting several years later in favor of the hedge fund boss, in a case that came before the court and ultimately brought a payment of $2.4 billion to the hedge fund.
In Michigan, Nance isn't the only judge taking trips at public expense. In a yearlong investigation, the Free Press requested records for travel expenses at numerous courthouses in Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties, in circuit as well as district courts. The investigation found that, although most judges seek modest reimbursements for traveling to conferences and training sites, a handful in metro Detroit have charged costly trips to their courthouse budgets.
In 2019, Oakland Circuit Judge Denise Langford-Morris, who has since retired, attended a convention of lawyers and judges in New York City for $1,940.26. In the same year, Macomb County Circuit Judge Joseph Toia attended a conference of the National Association of Drug Court Personnel in Nashville, Tennessee for $1,634.54. And although travel expenses in many courthouses dropped during and after the pandemic, there are other examples.
Still, among judges in metro Detroit, the Free Press found that Southfield’s courthouse was the biggest and most consistent spender of public dollars on travel, and Nance was the main traveler. Because courts are funded from various revenue streams, it’s not possible to say that Nance’s trips were entirely covered by taxpayer dollars. It is possible to say, however, that they were covered by public money — taxpayer dollars along with the fines and costs paid by members of the public, such as motorists paying traffic tickets and defendants paying criminal fines and court costs. About two-thirds of the annual budget of 46th District Court is covered by fines and court costs paid by the public.
In other words, when Nance imposes fines and costs on defendants, she knows she is bringing revenue to the court. The rest of the revenue to fund the courthouse comes from Southfield’s taxpayers, an amount that recently has totaled more than $1.6 million per year, according to budget figures provided by the Southfield city fiscal director. The cost of the trips irks Southfield Mayor Ken Siver.
“The taxpayers of Southfield are not only paying for the court’s expenses. We’re paying for Nance’s trips. And her trips are not approved by the city, but we still have to cover them,” Siver said. Nance’s travel expenses need only the signed approval of the court’s chief judge, according to the court’s expense records.
Siver continued: “I’ve made a stink about this every year at budget time. Our city administrator has talked to the court administrator and the chief judge on it, but as long as the money flows, they don’t care.”
No rule prohibiting travel
During a visit to Nance’s courtroom in late March, a Free Press reporter asked Nance what she felt she gained from her overseas trips, either personally or professionally. She said she had no comment. Nance’s supervisor, Chief Judge Shelia Johnson, who approved Nance’s trips, defended them.
“I think the trips for Judge Nance come under the category of judicial education,” Johnson said in a telephone interview.
“There is no rule that says this has to be in the state of Michigan. As long as you’re taking conferences that relate to judicial education, it’s justified and I would encourage that."
Nance's costly trips were organized by the National Bar Association, a nationwide group of mainly African American lawyers and judges. This year, the NBA scheduled three big trips for judges and lawyers: a 16-day one scheduled in May to the French Riviera and Barcelona, Spain; a weeklong annual meeting at a luxury Las Vegas hotel in July, and earlier this year, the 10-day African trip to Ghana that Nance attended in January.
Asked about traveling to Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean for lengthy trips whose agendas show they are primarily about sightseeing and resort vacationing, Johnson was politely insistent that such trips were fine with her. The overseas trips give participants “an emphasis on comparing judicial practices from country to country,” and they can provide “a broad perspective that does help you in your day-to-day work as a judge," she said.
Regarding the educational value of Johnson’s own trip, to New Orleans in 2018, for which she charged the courthouse $1,788.36, she said: “I can’t remember. That’s so long ago. I could look it up in my records and see what the seminars covered.”
She concluded: “It sounds like people want to embarrass judges for traveling to these conferences. ... These things keep you engaged as a judge.”
It’s Johnson’s signature that appears on Nance’s expense reports, approving her reimbursement for attending overseas conferences, which are listed as “City of Southfield Business Travel Expense.” On the forms, above Johnson’s signature, are these words: “I hereby certify that the travel indicated hereon was accomplished according to proper authorization, that the information is correct, and that no part of the compensation claimed was of a personal nature.”
Networking and education
The National Bar Association calls itself “the nation’s oldest and largest global network of predominantly Black American attorneys and judges.” It was founded in 1925 because Black lawyers were being denied membership in the all-white American Bar Association, according to online histories. The group provides scholarships for Black law students and helps them land internships at the start of their careers, according to the group’s website. As for the sponsored trips, online agendas show that many are mainly about networking and the theme “Relax, Rejuvenate and Explore.”
Asked to comment on its trips, NBA officials declined to return email and phone messages left by the Free Press at their offices in Washington, D.C. But the president of the NBA's affiliate group in Michigan, the Wolverine Bar Association, said the group is known for its educational trips as well as for aiding Black law students who seek internships and tutoring.
The NBA offers numerous credits in continuing legal education "at various conferences around the United States and overseas as well," said Diane Hutcherson, who is staff counsel to the Auto Club Insurance Association, known as AAA. Hutcherson said that, as a single parent, she had been unable to participate in overseas trips, but she said "there are many people who have and they're generally able to avail themselves of networking and educational opportunities."
"It may be pretty in Dubai but it's also educational," she said, referring to last year's NBA trip.
Virtually all judges incur some travel costs at public expense, doing so for training and to attend events for professional networking. As chief judge in Southfield, Johnson has taken trips at public expense, although none of the expense vouchers provided to the Free Press showed her traveling overseas. Her travel vouchers were signed by the court administrator, according to documents that the Free Press obtained via the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. Johnson incurred only modest travel expenses, according to those documents.
A third judge at 46th District Court in Southfield, Cynthia Arvant, expensed a bill for $1,291.74 in late 2022 for a conference held in Detroit. Arvant, who by law must live in Oakland County to serve as a judge in the county, charged her courthouse for a two-night stay at Detroit’s Westin Book Cadillac so that she could attend a weekend conference of the National Association of Women Judges without needing to drive home each night. District court judges in Michigan earn $172,134.62 per year, according to a spokesman for the Michigan Supreme Court.
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What's reasonably necessary?
Southfield city officials told the Free Press they felt they had no choice but to cover all costs submitted by the courthouse located behind their city hall, even if those costs include overseas trips to luxury hotels. Yet, according to state law and regulations of the Michigan Supreme Court, local units of government are responsible only for “adequately funding” courthouses. That seems to leave room for interpretation and, potentially, for challenging any high travel expense of court employees, including judges. State law is equally nonspecific as to defining what should be considered “adequate.” Officials at the Michigan Supreme Court and the State Court Administrator’s Office said that no one at those institutions could give legal advice on courthouse expenses. They suggested viewing the guidance delivered in a 2004 state Supreme Court decision, a case between Crawford County and its circuit court. (46th Circuit Trial Court v Crawford Co., 261 Mich. App 477; 682 NW2d 519 2004.)
That case established “that the inherent-power doctrine supplies a court with the authority to take whatever steps are reasonably necessary to fulfill the judicial function.” A key word is “reasonably.” It calls for a judgment about what is “reasonable” to spend for operating a courthouse. If the city of Southfield were to challenge its judges over travel expenses, and refuse to pay some of those expenses, the judges could sue and cite this case.
But Southfield might prevail. The Crawford County dispute was about something far more important and considered more "reasonable" than travel expenses. It involved the refusal of Crawford County to stand by its agreement to increase the health and retirement benefits of the court’s employees. Such expenses were reasonable, the county’s circuit court argued. And the Michigan Supreme Court agreed. Travel expenses for judges, in comparison, seem trivial, even if they represent trips that are hardly relevant to a judge’s duties. Still, the city of Southfield would seem to have a case if it refused to pay for costly travel.
Mackinac Island trips
Besides taking luxurious overseas trips, Nance has attended Michigan’s annual conference of judges, held each summer on Mackinac Island. For more than a decade, scores of judges have attended the conference, formerly held each August at one of Michigan’s priciest resorts, the Grand Hotel at Mackinac Island. After prices rose — a typical summer night’s lodging there this year costs more than $1,000 — the state court administrator’s office switched the conference to the less expensive Mission Point Resort for the three-day conference of the Michigan Judges Association. According to judges who’ve attended, important training and lectures do take place at these yearly meetings.
It was an incident at that conference on Mackinac Island in 2019 that led to an investigation of Nance by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission. The JTC’s investigation stems from misconduct allegations involving a dispute that Nance and a Detroit judge had over a bicycle rental. In the investigation of the dispute, in which the Detroit judge was accused of misusing her position outside a courtroom, Nance was accused of lying to investigators in July 2020 and again in September 2021. The Detroit judge told police that she had been assaulted by the bike shop owner. But when police viewed the shop’s surveillance video, they wrote in their police report — obtained by the Free Press — that the Detroit judge had been the assailant, not the shop owner. That led the JTC to investigate both Nance and the Detroit judge, 36th District Court Judge Demetria Brue.
With Michigan judges now required to take considerably more training, they have choices to make. Judges can obtain it free via online courses, received in their courthouses from the Michigan Judicial Institute, a state agency. Or they can, instead, choose to take the new training in person, perhaps in Michigan, but maybe at distant locales that require overnight or even overseas travel.
Judges who travel for their training can be a costly public expense. With little public scrutiny, they get to choose. Michigan judges “have options” about where they will get their new training, said John Nevin, communications director for the Michigan Supreme Court.
Contact Bill Laytner: blaitner@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Southfield judges charge public for professional conference trips
