Supreme Court Removes Detroit Judge

Judge Brenda Sanders

Last March, the Judicial Tenure Commission recommended the removal of 36th District Court Judge Brenda K. Sanders due to her mental illness. Earlier this month, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered her removal.

Trouble first began for Judge Sanders when she let her docket balloon to more than 400 backlogged cases. Next, she sent an ill-advised letter to U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade stating there was a conspiracy to remove her from the bench.

The investigation into Judge Sanders' fitness to remain on the bench uncovered that she suffers from paranoid delusions. For example, in her communications with the U.S. Attorney, she thought she was being framed in an investigation looking into what she characterized as the "suspicious" deaths of other 36th District Judges. Also, she believed she was being evicted from her home by the Michigan Supreme Court.

Judge Sanders' lawyer, our good friend Cyril Hall, told the Detroit News that his client was not going to appeal her removal, but added that she was not ruling out another run for the bench in some future election. Judge Sanders' said, however, that her removal from the Motor City district court bench was "fraudulent and unfounded". She vowed to review her legal remedies relative to the removal.