They Filed For Supreme Court, But Can't Legally Hold The Office

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 09/24/2026) Realtor Jody White and retired engineer Thomas Howe acknowledge they are not attorneys. They are also the U.S. Taxpayers Party’s nominees for Michigan Supreme Court, where the state Constitution requires justices to have been admitted to the practice of law for at least five years.

Both expect to remain on the November ballot. White says she and Howe crossed out the qualification language on their candidate forms before filing them. Howe goes further: He contends that lawyers do not hold licenses in the way the state says they do and that Michigan’s 1963 Constitution is invalid.

The Department of State says candidates who do not meet the qualifications for office can still appear on the ballot, though they must meet those qualifications before taking office. That distinction comes from a 1997 opinion by then-Attorney General Frank J. Kelley, who concluded that the Constitution’s five-year requirement applies when an elected judge begins serving, rather than when the candidate files or wins an election.

“Candidates that do not meet the qualifications can still remain on the ballot,” department press secretary Sam May told MIRS. “However, (Attorney General) opinion 6946 states that they would need to meet the requirements for office to take office.”

White and Howe have no apparent path to meeting the five-year requirement by the time the next Supreme Court term begins. White acknowledged to MIRS that she is not an attorney. She said the point of her campaign is to bring “public scrutiny” to the courts and how they operate.

Asked why she was running for an office she isn't qualified to hold, White replied: “Because we’ve tried everything else.”

Howe described the requirement that judges be lawyers as an “abysmal failure.” He called the State Bar of Michigan a “membership group” that has created “an illusion” that attorneys are licensed.

“They are not,” Howe said. “Practicing law is a common right . . . One of the members of the Supreme Court doesn’t have a license.”

All seven Michigan Supreme Court justices are listed in the State Bar’s directory. Election attorney Mark Brewer said their registration verifies that they are licensed attorneys. Michigan attorneys must meet education, examination, ethics and character requirements, take an oath and register with the State Bar. Each receives a “P number” identifying them in the bar’s records.

White disputed the significance of that number, saying it does not establish a professional license like the one she holds as a Realtor. Brewer called that characterization of the law absurd.

“You can’t practice law in this state, in the courts or anywhere else without a license to practice,” Brewer said. “You can’t get a P-number unless you are licensed.”

Howe also argues he cannot be bound by the judicial qualification because, in his view, Michigan’s 1963 Constitution “did not pass by a Republican form of vote.” He cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1886 decision in Norton v. Shelby County, a case concerning a Tennessee board created under a law that state’s Supreme Court found unconstitutional, in support of his position.

The candidates’ ballot filings have drawn a separate challenge from Michigan Forward Network, a 501(c)(4) organization founded in 2025 by Richard DeVos Jr. The group says Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson should have prevented White and Howe from appearing on the ballot and accuses her department of disenfranchising anyone who votes for them.

The dispute centers on their affidavits of identity. Candidates certify on the forms that they meet the statutory and constitutional requirements for the offices they seek. White said she and Howe crossed out that provision and that the Bureau of Elections accepted their filings.

Brewer said crossing a statement off a required form does not relieve a candidate of the obligation to meet its requirements. He called White’s explanation “dishonest at best” and said the affidavits raise questions about whether the candidates made false certifications. Whether either committed perjury would be a question for a jury, he said.

Brewer also said the Bureau of Elections and Board of State Canvassers do not independently investigate every candidate’s qualifications. An eligibility inquiry arises when someone files a challenge, he said, and no formal challenge to White and Howe was filed.

Michigan Forward Network spokesperson Gabe Butzke pointed to an Aug. 18 email to the Bureau of Elections asking it to verify the candidates’ histories of admission to the bar and take action to keep them off the ballot. The copy of the email provided to MIRS redacts its sender’s name.

Butzke also cited the department’s disqualification of more than a dozen candidates in 2022 because of false information on their affidavits of identity. Those cases concerned candidates’ statements about campaign finance filings and fees. May did not directly answer MIRS’ question about why White and Howe were not disqualified based on their affidavits.

White and Howe said their campaigns grew out of their experiences with family probate cases. Both allege that judges’ rulings allowed assets belonging to loved ones to be stolen. Howe said they want to expose what they see as corruption in the judiciary.

He expressed hope that U.S. Taxpayers gubernatorial candidate Donna Brandenburg would be elected and keep them on the bench. Asked how he would serve if elected despite the constitutional qualification, Howe replied: “We’ll have to see.”

“I want to push the envelope,” Howe said. “This is all for you; it isn’t for me. I can leave the state at any time and run away from this place because it’s only going downhill, and I’m going to make this ditch effort with Jody and we’re going to change the state of Michigan and make it great again.”

Brewer said the candidates’ arguments mislead voters about what an election could accomplish.

“These two people have done so much wrong on so many levels,” he said. “… Voters who cast votes for them are wasting their votes."