State highcourt breaks ground

LANSING (AP) - Nearly 30 years after relinquishing its courtroom in the Capitol building, the Supreme Court held a groundbreaking yesterday for the new headquarters of the state's judicial branch.

The Hall of Justice, scheduled to open in 2003 at a cost of $87.8 million, will sit at the west end of the Capitol Mall. It will consolidate Supreme Court offices in the state-owned Law Building and Court of Appeals offices now in rented space in Lansing.

"This is a great day. We are breaking ground on a building we have needed for several generations," Justice Michael Cavanagh told an audience that included several former justices. "It will make such a difference as we do our work for the people of Michigan."

The six-story, domed building will have two courtrooms - one for the Supreme Court, one for the Court of Appeals - with more public seating than the Supreme Court's current courtroom.

The 281,000 square-foot structure will include a conference center for training judges and court staff from around the state and a public education center. It also will house the State Court Administrative Office.

Chief Justice Elizabeth Weaver said the Supreme Court has been lobbying for a building of its own since 1922. A separate building, she said, "will heighten the judiciary as an independent branch of our ingenious system of government."

Gov. John Engler called the building "long overdue," but also admitted that a building called the Hall of Justice reminded him of the fictional headquarters of Superman and Wonder Woman.

"I want to make it clear that there will be no legislative support for an invisible plane," he quipped.

The Michigan Democratic Party isn't joking about the building, calling it an exorbitant "Judicial Palace." Democrats point out that the building's underground parking garage for 460 cars will cost $15 million, or $32,600 per space.

"It is outrageous that the Michigan Supreme Court wants to work in such luxury and splendor," Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer said in a statement. Party spokesperson Dennis Denno added that the Democrats plan to make the building's cost an issue in the 2000 elections.

Engler said the money for the building was approved in 1998 when Democrats controlled the House.

"It would be a despicable act on the part of Democrats to make something like this a partisan issue," he said. "If they have no other issues, I think they'll reach and grab at anything."

Earlier yesterday, the court heard the first arguments of its 1999-2000 session in its former Capitol courtroom, an ornate room now used by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Joining the court for the first time was Justice Stephen Markman, a former appeals court judge appointed to the Supreme Court last month by Engler. Markman fills the seat vacated by Justice James Brickley, who stepped down after being diagnosed with cancer.

Markman will serve on the court until the 2000 election, when he must run to retain his seat. If he wins that election, he will serve out the remainder of Brickley's term, which will end Jan. 1, 2005.

10-13-99