Troy, MI:  Matthew Ackerman announced his campaign as a candidate for Judge in the 2nd District of the Michigan Court of Appeals. Ackerman is a former judicial law clerk on the United States Courts of Appeal for the Second and Fifth Circuits, a volunteer in the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office’s Conviction Integrity Unit, and a lawyer in private practice at Ackerman & Ackerman.

“Judges must ensure that the actions of government do not exceed their constitutional boundaries or interfere with the People’s constitutional rights. Judges must keep the government in check by faithfully applying the texts of the Constitutions of the United States and of the State of Michigan.”

Ackerman graduated with honors from Columbia Law School. He also has a master’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and an undergraduate degree from Harvard University.

“If I’ve learned one thing in working in and practicing the law, it is that judges should interpret the laws according to what they say, not according to what the judges wish they would say. Judges are supposed to interpret the laws; they are not supposed to make them.”

With experience in the judicial branch at the federal level, working with a County Prosecutor’s Office, and in private practice, Matthew Ackerman is uniquely positioned to ensure that all parties coming before the Court of Appeals will be served with fairness and equal justice under the law.

“And, I believe in equal justice under the law. Judges must treat every litigant equally and judge every case fairly and without bias. Only the law and the facts of the case should determine a judge’s ruling.

I also believe in civility. Everyone who appears in our courtrooms—litigants, lawyers, and judges—deserves to have his or her arguments heard and to be treated with respect. People only come to court when they disagree. But we should not let disagreements make us disagreeable.”

Matthew was born and raised in Oakland County and has practiced in Oakland, Genesee, and Macomb counties, which comprise the 2nd District of the Michigan Court of Appeals.