When Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed judges to the state supreme court and court of appeals last month, she actually appointed a host of left-wing activists and Democrat donors.
“These Michiganders all bring years of legal experience to their roles, and I am confident they will uphold the rule of law and serve the people admirably,” Whitmer said in a press release.
They certainly “bring years of legal experience”—but they spent much of it courting far-left agendas.
Judge Noah Hood, appointee to the state supreme court, dismissed the phrase “all lives matter” as “legal fiction.” Judge Mariam Bazzi, appointee to the 1st District Court of Appeals, has been involved with various anti-Israel groups. Christopher Trebilcock, appointee to the 2nd District Court of Appeals, served as Whitmer’s campaign lawyer. And Daniel Korobkin, appointee to the 3rd District Court of Appeals, opposed the state’s sex offender registry.
Denouncing ‘All Lives Matter’
When Whitmer appointed Judge Noah Hood to fill the vacancy left by Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement on the state Supreme Court, he promised to administer “even-handed justice.”
But as Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation in the summer of 2020, Hood denounced the statement “all lives matter” as simply “legal fiction.” He called on Twitter/X to “continue in our ancestors’ struggle.”
Just months later, in August, Hood suggested adopting the term “pogrom”—which refers to historic, violent massacres against Jews ahead of the Holocaust—to describe strife in America.
Hood took part in various decisions favorable to Whitmer, according to Bridge Michigan. He contributed to a ruling, last year, paving the way for a Ford battery plant in Marshall which Whitmer incentivized with tax dollars.
He also helped shoot down a lawsuit seeking restitution from Wayne State University over its online learning practices during Covid-19, caused by Whitmer issuing a stay-at-home order. In 2022, he helped keep Perry Johnson off the Republican primary ballot for governor after Johnson allegedly submitted fraudulent petition signatures.
The judge has donated $1,550 to Democrats and left-leaning causes since 2011, according to Federal Election Commission data.
Rubbing Shoulders With Anti-Israel Extremists
Judge Mariam Bazzi, Whitmer’s appointee for the 1st District Court of Appeals, has close ties with Islamic, anti-Israel groups.
Bazzi joined Muslim leaders for an anti-Israel dinner with the Arab American Political Action Committee, according to Arab American News. AAPAC condemns the war against Hamas as “genocide.”
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib denounced Israel during the dinner, recalling how she carried a sign labeling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal.” She called on the audience to “participate heavily” in November’s elections: “Do not give them a chance to defeat us.”
Opening the dinner, AAPAC President Farah Hoballah grieved Israel’s war against “our homelands.” AAPAC Founder Abed Hammoud also railed against then President Joe Biden, saying he chose to “support the extreme right-wing Israeli government and ignore the war crimes committed against unarmed civilians,” according to Arab American News.
Bazzi has given $3,650 to AAPAC since 2015, according to FEC records. She has also given nearly $9,000 to Democrats and left-leaning causes—including Biden’s 2020 campaign—since 2016.
When Biden’s team attempted to smooth things over with Muslim leaders at Dearborn’s Henry Hotel in February 2024, Bazzi attended, according to Arab American News. Then-Democrat state Rep. Abraham Aiyash said the conversations were “intense” but “direct.” When asked for comment, then-White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre simply said the meetings were “private.”
Whitmer’s Errand Boy
Attorney Christopher Trebilcock, Whitmer’s appointee to the 2nd District Court of Appeals, represented state Democrats—including the governor herself—multiple times in the past.
Last year, Trebilcock led state Democrat lawyers calling for a probe of former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers’s nominating petitions in his recent Senate bid.
“Lawyers for the Democrats, led by Christopher Trebilcock, say the state canvassers have previously held that fraud by a circulator on one sheet ‘calls into question’ the validity of all of that circulator’s submitted petitions,” reads a May 2024 release from the state Democrat Party.
That month, Trebilcock wrote the state board of canvassers, calling for an investigation on behalf of a Michigan voter, the state Democrat Party, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Cosigners included lawyers from the left-wing Elias Law Group, of the prominent Democrat litigator Marc Elias.
On behalf of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, Elias hired Fusion GPS which commissioned the now-infamous Steele Dossier—the source of widespread conspiracy theories, like Trump’s supposed “collusion” with Russia.
Trebilcock was also “associated” with an LLC that handled proceeds for Whitmer’s book “True Gretch: What I’ve Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything In Between,” according to the Detroit Free Press. He said in April 2024 the LLC “was set up to handle personal affairs and to stay in strict compliance with campaign finance and state ethics laws.”
The lawyer wrote for the Detroit Free Press in June 2024, blasting Trump’s attorneys for “[d]isavowing election results based on unproven theories.” But in November, when then-Democrat state Rep. Jim Haadsma lost re-election, Trebilcock, his “attorney,” said his campaign filed for a recount over tabulator issues, Michigan Advance reported. Ultimately, Haadsma lost the recount.
Trebilcock was also Whitmer’s campaign lawyer in 2021 when she collected contributions above state fundraising limits, triggering recalls, as The Detroit News reported. The same year, Whitmer’s campaign drew scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration when a chemical company arranged to fly the governor on a private jet, according to the Detroit Free Press. Trebilcock said her campaign would reimburse the cost of the flight.
The lawyer is also part of a Michigan “coalition” for DemocracyFIRST Promise, a left-wing group that pledges to “defeat authoritarianism” and pushes anti-Trump messaging. According to InfluenceWatch, the group promotes “left-of-center” election policies.
Trebilcock was press secretary for the state Democrat Party in 2002, according to LinkedIn. FEC records show since 2020, he has given over $21,000 to Democrats and left-wing causes.
Opposing the Sex Offender Registry
Daniel Korobkin, Whitmer’s appointee for 3rd District Court of Appeals, will be leaving his post as legal director of ACLU Michigan to serve on the bench. He worked this most recent role since 2019, during which time he challenged the state’s sex offender registry law as “unconstitutional.”
Korobkin and others from ACLU Michigan sued in 2022, challenging the state’s sex-offender registry law. They sought an injunction, saying the state law resulted in “retroactively imposing lifetime registration” on sex offenders, and that its “compelled disclosure requirements” violated the 1st Amendment. A U.S. district court issued a final judgment earlier this year, granting several claims from the suit.
In 2023, Korobkin coauthored a brief supporting another suit against the sex offender registry law. The lawyer argued it unconstitutionally placed non-sex related criminals on the registry. For example, even though he didn’t technically commit a sexual offense, a man who held his wife and children at gunpoint qualified for the registry, according to WILX. The state Supreme Court overturned the policy last year.
The lawyer has used his position to push numerous other agendas in court. He supported a rule in 2023 which would force Michigan judges to use preferred pronouns, and worked in 2022 and 2023 to keep sexually explicit books like “Gender Queer” in public school libraries. According to FEC records, Korobkin has donated over $3,000 to Democrats since 2016.
Together, Whitmer’s judicial appointees have a wealth of experience pushing left-wing agendas. From their legal philosophies to their professional connections, these judges could give Democrats an edge in state courts for years.
Logan Washburn is a former elections correspondent for The Federalist and former editorial assistant to Christopher Rufo.
