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Robert Colombo
Robert J. Colombo, Jr. was a judge of the 3rd Circuit Court in Wayne County, Michigan. He was elected to the bench in 1982 and took office the following January. He succeeded Virgil Smith as the chief judge, serving in this position from 2014 to 2018.[1][2] He retired December 31, 2018.
Education
Colombo received his B.A. in accounting from the University of Miami (1972) and earned his J.D. from the Detroit College of Law (1975).[2][3]
Career
Following his graduation from law school in 1975, Colombo began his career as a law clerk for Judge George Bashara, Jr. of the Michigan Court of Appeals. He joined the law firm of Riley & Roumell in 1977, practicing civil, criminal and domestic relations trial and appellate law until he was elected to the circuit court 1982.[2][3]
2012 election
- See also: Michigan judicial elections, 2012
Colombo was one of 17 candidates competing for 16 seats on the 3rd Circuit Court. Only one candidate was a non-incumbent. Colombo was re-elected with 5.15 percent of the vote.[4][5]
Bar association ratings
The Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association rated candidates running for judicial office in 2012. Candidates were given one of five ratings: Outstanding, Well Qualified, Qualified, Not Qualified or No Rating.
Colombo was rated as Outstanding.[6]
Noteworthy cases
On February 5, 2008, Judge Colombo ruled that text messages that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick exchanged with his chief of staff were subject to Michigan's Freedom of Information Act.[7]
In June of 2008, Judge Colombo refused Kilpatrick's request to delay the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against him, saying he would allow Kilpatrick "to intervene to protect his rights but not to postpone proceedings."[8]
Judge Colombo later blocked further efforts from Kilpatrick's legal team to discover who leaked the scandalous text messages by ruling that the source of the leak was "not relevant to this case."[9]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association, "Message from the President," January 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Detroit Metro Bar Association, "Robert Colombo" (dead link) (Broken)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedfreepress - ↑ Michigan Department of State, "Official 2012 General Election Results: 3rd Circuit Court," January 4, 2013
- ↑ Michigan Department of State, "2012 Unofficial Michigan Primary Candidate Listing," July 31, 2012
- ↑ Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association, "Judicial Candidate Evaluation Committee," accessed July 7, 2014
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "Kilpatrick will appeal judge's order to release documents," February 5, 2008
- ↑ Associated Press, "Judge refuses Detroit mayor's request to delay FOIA case," June 6, 2008
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "Reporters don't have to name texts source," July 17, 2008
