The Michigan Supreme Court honored Stephen Markman with an official portrait unveiling at the Michigan Hall of Justice on Wednesday.

Markman, who has taught constitutional law at Hillsdale College since 1993, is a retired chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. Justice Brian Zahra presided over the event, which was delayed for nearly two years due to COVID.

“On his last day in office, President Reagan presented Justice Markman a handwritten note thanking him for his service to the people of the United States of America,” Zahra said. “Chief Justice Markman greatly influenced our nation’s jurisprudence, and his contribution to the law goes well beyond the state of Michigan.”

Zahra said Markman built a reputation for his thoughtful and piercing questions during his 21 years on the court. 

“I personally marvel at the way in which he could distill a highly complex and difficult case down to a handful of poignant questions,” Zahra said in his opening remarks. “Steve was a self-proclaimed devil’s advocate. And I mean no disrespect at all when I state the devil could have no better advocate than Steve Markman.” 

Speakers at the event also included Justice Richard H. Bernstein, Judge Richard Fred Suhrheinrich, and former Michigan Gov. John Engler, among others. Six of the seven sitting justices of the Michigan Supreme Court attended the unveiling, with Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack sending regrets for her absence, as she was in Washington, D.C. 

Emeritus Professor of Art Sam Knecht, who taught at Hillsdale for 47 years, painted Markman’s portrait. 

Knecht, who has been commissioned to do portraits of several other Hillsdale professors in the past, said he first met Markman at Hillsdale’s D.C. campus. 

“I met Justice Markman somewhat by chance when I was at the Kirby Center preparing to apply final picture varnish on my big Constitution painting there,” Knecht said. “By 2012 he contacted me as he considered using me to do his official portrait per the tradition of the court.”

According to Knecht, Markman escorted him through the Hall of Justice in Lansing, and they examined dozens of justice portraits. Knecht also did at least three picture taking sessions with Markman prior to painting.

Markman told the Collegian he was very pleased Knecht was willing to do his portrait after seeing his earlier work.

“I was very enthusiastic about the possibility of Professor Knecht doing this and he agreed to it,” Markman said. 

In looking back at his time on the court, Markman described his constitutional philosophy as originalist. 

“Originalism was the idea that, in trying to give meaning to the Constitution, we look to the language of the Constitution and we look to the intentions of the framers as communicated by that language,” Markman said. “That’s very distinctive from the approaches to the Constitution where judges are allowed to determine what they believe are the evolving meanings of the Constitution.”

Markman said the justice system should look to the rule of law not to rule of judges.

“I authored about 175 opinions of the court — that is majority opinions of the court — and of course I had some dissents and concurrences as well,” Markman said. “It’s not the role of judges to construct the law, to fill in gaps, or to substitute their own judgements for those of the legislative branch. The role of the judge is to say what the law ‘is,’ and it is the role of the legislature or Congress is to say what the law ought to be.” 

Markman’s career began when he worked as a legislative assistant for Congressman Ed Hutchinson. Before President Ronald Reagan nominated him as assistant attorney general, he worked on the Subcommittee on the Constitution and then the Senate Judiciary Committee.

After the Senate unanimously confirmed him, Markman said he worked mainly on policy development in the Department of Justice and coordinating judicial selection by recommending judges for positions across the country. He eventually returned to Michigan, where he continued working in the courts and expressed interest in teaching at Hillsdale. 

“The college has evolved a great deal since I first started teaching here nearly 30 years ago, but I’ve always had great admiration for the people I’ve known here, and I think we’re all blessed to be involved with this remarkable academic community,” Markman said. “I admire the sense of independence of Hillsdale, I admire the quality of education, I admire the traditionalist values that it brings to bear, I admire the first premises and the foundational principles of Hillsdale.”

Professor of Politics Mickey Craig, who has known the former justice since Markman began teaching at Hillsdale, said he has been an “unexpected and delightful” friend of almost 30 years.

“He’s always getting involved and people are happy to have him involved. He’s political in the noble and best sense,” Craig said. “ I think he’s one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever known, and he really knows constitutional case law as well as anybody I know.”

According to Craig, Markman has been respected across the political spectrum for his honesty and unwillingness to grant special favors.

“He thinks that his job as a judge is to read the plain language and give it a common sense original meaning and apply that to disputes that come before him,” Craig said. “That’s the way he did his job for 21 years as a Supreme Court justice.”