David Viviano
David Viviano (Republican Party) was a judge of the Michigan Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2013. He left office on January 1, 2025.
Viviano was appointed to the office by Republican Governor Rick Snyder on February 27, 2013, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Diane Hathaway.[1] Viviano was elected to serve out the remaining two years of Hathaway's term on November 4, 2014.[2] Viviano was re-elected in 2016 to a full eight-year term.[3] To read more about judicial selection in Michigan, click here.
On March 15, 2024, Viviano announced that he would not run for re-election to the Michigan Supreme Court.[4]
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[5] Viviano received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[6] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Viviano received his B.A. from Hillsdale College and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.[7] He worked for a law firm in Chicago and another in Detroit before co-founding the Mt. Clemens firm of Viviano & Viviano, PLLC with Kathryn A. Viviano in 2004. Viviano also served as a city attorney for Center Line, Michigan. He was the managing member of Viviano & Viviano, PLLC for three years prior to his election to the 16th Circuit Court of Macomb County in 2006. He served as chief judge of that court until his appointment to the Michigan Supreme Court in 2013.[7][8][1]
Elections
2024
- See also: Michigan Supreme Court elections, 2024
David Viviano did not file for re-election.
2016
- See also: Michigan Supreme Court elections, 2016
Viviano ran for re-election in 2016.[9] He was nominated as the Republican candidate for the seat at the state Republican Party's convention on August 27.[10]He faced Judge Frank S. Szymanski (D) and attorney Doug Dern on November 8.
Election results
November 8 general election
Incumbent David Viviano defeated Frank S. Szymanski and Doug Dern in the general election for the Michigan Supreme Court, Viviano's seat.
| Michigan Supreme Court, Viviano's Seat, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  David Viviano Incumbent |
67.23% | 2,316,459 | |
| Democratic | Frank S. Szymanski | 23.01% | 792,944 | |
| Natural Law Party of Michigan | Doug Dern | 9.76% | 336,160 | |
| Total Votes (83 of 83 counties: 100%) | 3,445,563 | |||
| Source: Michigan Secretary of State Official Results | ||||
2014
See also: Michigan judicial elections, 2014
Viviano ran for re-election to the Michigan Supreme Court.
General: He defeated Deborah Thomas and Kerry L. Morgan in the general election on November 4, 2014, receiving 62.1 percent of the vote.Viviano was nominated as a candidate at the Republican convention.[2]
2012
Viviano was re-elected to the 16th Circuit Court after running unopposed in 2012.[11]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[12]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[13]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
David
Viviano
Michigan
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Received donations from Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Viviano was a registered Republican prior to 2020. He donated $1,744 to Republican candidates and organizations. Viviano received donations from organizations that regularly donate to Republican candidates, including the Michigan Republican Party. He was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder (R). Viviano was endorsed by individuals and organizations that regularly endorse Republicans, including the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and Right to Life of Michigan. At the time of his appointment, Michigan was a Republican trifecta.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
Viviano ran for election on the Republican ticket for prosecutor in 2004 and spoke at events for Republican groups such as the Eastside Republican Club and the Troy Republican Committee.[14][15][16]
State supreme court judicial selection in Michigan
- See also: Judicial selection in Michigan
The seven justices of the Michigan Supreme Court are chosen by the Michigan method in which a partisan nomination is followed by nonpartisan elections.[17] Incumbent judges seeking re-election may file an affidavit of candidacy requesting to be placed on the ballot, while non-incumbent candidates must either file a nominating petition or obtain a partisan nomination at a party convention. Incumbency is noted on the ballot, though party affiliation is not. Judges serve eight-year terms and must be re-elected if they wish to remain on the court.[18]
Qualifications
To be elected to the supreme court, a judge must:
- be a qualified elector;
- be licensed to practice law in the state;
- have at least five years of law practice experience;
- be under the age of 70.[18]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is elected by his or her fellow justices and serves a two-year term[18]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a temporary replacement to serve until the next general election. At the governor's request, the state bar's standing committee on judicial qualifications interviews, evaluates, and rates all candidates, submitting a confidential report to the governor. However, the governor is not required to request candidates from the committee, nor is the governor bound by the committee's evaluations.[18]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 CBS Detroit, "Snyder names Macomb County judge to Supreme Court," February 27, 2013
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Michigan Department of State, "2014 Unofficial Michigan General Candidate Listing," accessed August 26, 2014
- ↑ Sentinel Standard, "Supreme Court justices Viviano, Larsen launch campaigns," April 22, 2016
- ↑ The Detroit News, "Viviano won't seek reelection to Michigan Supreme Court," March 15, 2024
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Michigan Court History, "David F. Viviano," accessed July 8, 2021
- ↑ Michigan Courts, "Macomb County," accessed July 8, 2021
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2016 Michigan Candidate Listing," accessed August 29, 2016
- ↑ MLive, "See Democratic and Republican candidates for Supreme Court, university boards," August 28, 2016
- ↑ Michigan Department of State, "Unofficial 2012 General Election Results: 16th Circuit Court," accessed November 12, 2014
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Advisor & Source, "State Supreme Court makes chief judge change," November 21, 2011
- ↑ Eastside Republican Club, "Justice Viviano Tells What It Takes To Merit a Hearing Before Supreme Court," accessed September 12, 2014
- ↑ Facebook, "Judicial Update with Michigan Supreme Court Justice David Viviano - Troy Republican Committee," May 30, 2013
- ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Michigan," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed August 27, 2021
Federal courts:
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan
State courts:
Michigan Supreme Court • Michigan Court of Appeals • Michigan Circuit Court • Michigan Court of Claims • Michigan District Courts • Michigan Municipal Courts • Michigan Probate Courts
State resources:
Courts in Michigan • Michigan judicial elections • Judicial selection in Michigan
