Alton Davis, (ex-)Supreme Court Justice

Last fall, when State Supreme Court Justice Betty Weaver resigned, Governor Granholm chose Grayling-based judge Alton Davis to take Weaver’s place and serve until judges from the November election were sworn in. Alton lost his election race, but during the few months he served, he ended up writing a decision that environmentalists cheered as a hallmark because it restored the rights of any Michigan citizen to sue the state when its decisions impaired the environment. The original case challenged an environmental permit that allowed an oil company to pump contaminated groundwater through a treatment system and then discharge the water into a small tributary of the Au Sable River. Themes of the case were serendipitously tied to important themes in Judge Davis’s life. With trout opener this month, we checked in with the judge to get some backstory.