What’s in a name? If you’re running for judge, a lot.
In Wayne County, the name Hathaway is bound to win. In Oakland, a sure bet is O’Brien. And in Macomb, Servitto grabs the ring.
Michigan ballots put candidates for judge at or near the bottom. They land in the “nonpartisan section,” which comes after listings for all of the Democrats, all of the Republicans, and all other party members seeking office. So, even if John Q. Public or Mary Doe votes a “straight-party ticket” – filling in that little oval to declare that just one party’s candidates are his or her choice for every office – doing that won’t elect a single judge.
About a third of Michigan’s voters work their way down ballots, then skip the nonpartisan section, thinking: “Heck, there’s no party there, and I don’t know these people!” Other voters, though, play the name game, picking familiar last names to decide who should be judges. In this fall’s election, three perennial winners – Hathaway, O’Brien, and Servitto – are prominent on tri-county ballots. Facing them? In Wayne County, there’s no opposition at all. Circuit judges Bridget Mary Hathaway and Dana Margaret Hathaway are certain to be re-elected, as part of a swath of 18 incumbent judges, all running together to regain their 18 seats. Why does Michigan allow such electoral gimmickry? That’s another tale, for another day.
North of 8 Mile, the election will have actual contests. In Oakland and Macomb, gritty unknown challengers are taking on two potent political patronymics: Servitto and O’Brien. While the Tigers battle in the playoffs, here’s a scorecard on the matchups of these two courageous political underdogs, as they take on family names that always seem to win their playoffs for judge.
I n Oakland County
Probate Judge Daniel A. O’Brien has a last name that goes with decades of county judges. There’s even another Judge Daniel O’Brien. He's a circuit court judge in Oakland County, succeeding three other O'Briens who've been circuit judges. The probate O'Brien follows a probate predecessor named John J. O'Brien. For voters, there's a comforting familiarity about seeing an O'Brien running for judge on Oakland County ballots.
What’s amazing is that Probate Judge Daniel A. O’Brien is not exactly running to be re-elected. His term won’t expire for two years. By then, he can't run again. He'd be too old, under Michigan's age limit. O'Brien is skirting that by running now, as a newbie. He’s seeking not his own seat but an “open seat,” the judgeship being vacated by Chief Probate Judge Linda Hallmark, who is retiring. Hallmark is age-limited by the rule that O'Brien is skirting, which says that Michigan judges who turn 70 can't run again. O’Brien, 68, said he loves his job and wants to keep it for another six-year term, starting in 2025.
Oddly, he's considered a non-incumbent running for Hallmark’s seat. That's why he's not listed on ballots as “Judge of Probate Court,” like any other probate judge seeking re-election. His campaign signs can't say, “Re-elect Probate Judge Daniel O’Brien.” But they do say "Elect Judge O'Brien." His Instagram site says: "The best probate court judge is the one whose name is already on the door." And there are other examples of O'Brien seemingly pushing the limit on what a non-incumbent should say, according to the ethical rules that govern judges in Michigan. County election officials said, speaking hypothetically and not specifically about O'Brien, that they believed O'Brien's promotional wording did not violate the rules. His opponent disagreed. On Friday, Oct. 4, she filed in Oakland Circuit Court a request for a temporary restraining order ‒ strong medicine that would prohibit O'Brien "from using misleading signs, internet posts, communications or advertisements which present Daniel A. O'Brien as an incumbent."
Technically, O'Brien must play in the sandbox like a new toddler. Still, many voters know that he’s been a probate judge for 12 years. Many more know that people named O’Brien often become judges. So, they think, why not elect another one? Facing O’Brien is a young lawyer with a strong education ‒ honors at Florida A&M and at the highly ranked University of Michigan Law School. New to politics, she said she's devoting herself full-time to campaigning and can do that because she's a sole practitioner, not clocking in daily at a law firm. Still, she has a big job if she's to defeat the O'Brien name. But if she does, he stays put and both of them would be probate judges.
O'Brien is still efficient, he said, pointing out the "2024 Performance Measures Data Packet," an audit by state officials who assess Michigan's courts. O'Brien got top grades in Oakland's courthouse for expediting his probate cases: 96% done in 35 days, 100% done in half a year. Overall, Oakland's probate courts got high ratings in the state's "Public Satisfaction Survey Dashboard." When a reporter visited O'Brien's courtroom recently, he was just ending a hearing with a senior couple, praising them for helping a problematic family member. The two thanked O'Brien effusively and, when the woman began weeping, he suggested she use the courtroom's tissues.
"Take the whole box. We have a closet full of them," he said, smiling broadly as the two took their leave.
O'Brien is known in legal circles for taking on Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Their snit is over Nessel's push for new laws that would give more regulation to professional guardians and conservators. The professionals typically are lawyers appointed by probate judges to handle numerous cases.
Family members often resent the fees those lawyers charge, and Nessel has complained that some overcharge and abuse their powers.
O'Brien has countered that he opposes regulations that would discourage lawyers from taking such cases. And he says that family members can be plenty greedy and abusive.
In a high-profile case in 2023-24 involving former Detroit Lions star Lem Barney, now incapacitated, O'Brien gave family members numerous chances and many months to show they could handle Barney's health care and finances. Instead, the judge found that Barney's care was badly managed and that hundreds of thousands of dollars were missing. O'Brien then ruled to have a professional guardian get full control. At first, that went against the wish of Barney's close friend Dave Bing, Detroit's former mayor and, for a while, a co-guardian. Ultimately, though, O'Brien held a hearing with fresh evidence of the family's misconduct, and that won over Bing, the ex-Pistons star said.
O'Brien's opponent, Traci Richards, sides with Nessel by supporting proposals that would add more state regulation of professional guardians and conservators. Richards' campaign placards say, "There is no reason that family and friends of the dearly departed and those unable to care for themselves can not be appointed to care for the interest of their loved ones. ... It is time we started letting people keep what may be their largest source of family wealth; and allow those who already care for those in need of assistance to be appointed to be the guardian and/or conservator."
Although races for judge are nonpartisan, Richards points out that she was endorsed by the Oakland County Democratic Club, Fems for Dems, and numerous community Democratic Party clubs, as well as by left-leaning unions and many elected Democrats across Oakland County. With the county turning more blue in each election, Democrats who learn of Richards' endorsers might bypass O'Brien's familiar name and support her challenge. Still, Richards said the race is nonpartisan and she campaigns that way. When walking through neighborhoods, "I put a door hanger on every door. I don't use a list" of Democrats, Richards said, adding: "I have Republicans working for me, too."
In Macomb County
Saima Rehman Khalil is opposing Anthony R. Servitto for circuit judge. Khalil laughed when telling a group of judicial candidates after a recent Q&A forum in Southfield, “Yes, can you believe it? I’m taking on this huge family.” Servitto, understandably, was not there; the event was held well outside Macomb County.
Yet, despite her jest, taking on a big name isn't new to Khalil. In 2020, she ran for Macomb County prosecutor, amid a stew of political bigwigs, finishing third in the Democratic primary. Khalil said she hasn't been reluctant to oppose her county's big names in politics, because a democracy needs competitors, even when one of them has a name and appearance that can unsettle voters. That happens when Khalil walks through neighborhoods.
"I'm probably the most foreign person to come to their door. I look different," she said, referring to her headscarf. "You don't have a lot of Muslim candidates here. Macomb County still operates very much with the old boys' network. And I am running at a time when our community has been divided in so many ways by other politicians," she said. Most of her campaign funds came from Muslims, not lawyers and judges, she added.
But once she starts talking about her key concern ‒ how the legal system criminalizes mental illness ‒ people respond favorably, Khalil said. She favors lenient bond conditions and low dollar amounts when defendants are shown to be mentally ill, and she said treatment should replace jail terms whenever possible.
Her opponent comes from a long line of judges. His mother is Deborah Servitto, the first female assistant city attorney in Warren when she was hired there in 1982. Since then, Deborah Servitto rose from district judge to circuit judge to Court of Appeals judge beginning in 2006, retiring in July because her health was declining, said her son Anthony R. Servitto. He and his brother, Macomb County Circuit Judge Michael E. Servitto, visited their mother last summer, "and we said, 'Enough's enough. You really can't finish the term.' She's endorsing me in my campaign," he said. Servitto's father, Edward Servitto, 74, has been a Macomb County circuit judge since 2000.
"My father is age-terming out, so I'm running for his seat. I've got big shoes to fill," Anthony R. Servitto said.
Like his opponent, Servitto attended Lansing-based Cooley Law School, labeled by some media outlets "the nation's worst law school." Also like his opponent, Servitto admitted to being only an average law student. Both have been out of law school for about a dozen years. Khalil also earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, although she needed three tries to pass the Michigan bar exam, the ticket to a law license. Servitto passed it on his first try. Both said they are running nonpartisan campaigns, with Servitto saying: "I have more than 50 elected officials endorsing me, Democrats and Republicans."
Where the two differ is in experience. Khalil has worked for a Legal Aid office and has been a sole practitioner with diverse experience. Servitto is steeped in criminal law, having been a defense attorney for a year, followed by spending the last 12 years rising through the ranks of the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office. He has prosecuted many a felony, including homicides, the kind of cases he would see as a circuit judge. Servitto said that growing up in a family of judges helped him cultivate the right temperament for the bench.
"The individuals and organizations endorsing me have seen how I deal with defendants, with crime victims, with other lawyers. I've wanted this job since I was a kid," he said.
For voters
How should voters deal with big-name dynasties in the courts? Continue them when the big names have strong candidates. Alternatively, get informed about lesser-known candidates, those gutsy enough to take on the big names. Informed voters know better; they don't skip the nonpartisan part of their ballots. Instead, they elect good judges. For insights, visit the Free Press voter guide. https://www.freep.com/news/elections/voter-guide/
Contact Bill Laytner: blaitner@freepress.com .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Challengers for judge face political heavyweights in Oakland, Macomb counties
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