Marlinga joins Democratic race for U.S. House in competitive Macomb district

Democrat Carl Marlinga, the former Macomb County judge and prosecutor, announced Monday that he's running again for Congress, seeking the open seat in Michigan's competitive new 10th District. 

Marlinga, 75, of Sterling Heights stepped down from the Macomb County Circuit Court bench late last month, cutting short the last few months of his six-year term. He served as Macomb County prosecutor from 1985-2004.

Marlinga joins a growing Democratic field that includes Sterling Heights City Councilman Henry Yanez, Warren City Councilwoman Angela Rogensues and Huwaida Arraf, a civil rights attorney in Macomb Township. 

Republican businessman John James, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate twice, has also launched a campaign in the 10th, which includes parts of Macomb and Oakland counties.

"This is a map that looks like it was drawn for me personally, because it's all my strong areas in Macomb County — it's from Eight Mile up to Hall Road," Marlinga said, adding that he's also done well in the past in Shelby Township in the more Republican, northern part of the district.

His campaign will stress the need to move from oil as the main source of U.S. energy toward clean energy, he said, noting that would "greatly diminish" Russia’s ability to intimidate other countries while creating good-paying U.S. jobs. 

Marlinga said he looks forward to running in the general election against James and debating him, noting that James lives outside the district in Farmington Hills.  

"Army veteran and small businessman John James looks forward to putting his record and ideas up against those of the far-left radicals in this growing field of Democrats," spokeswoman Abby Walls said. 

Republican officials have questioned whether Marlinga is eligible to run for the U.S. House, given a provision in the Michigan Constitution that requires judges to observe a one-year cooling-off period before seeking another office.

But Marlinga has insisted the restriction wouldn't apply to his situation, arguing that it conflicts with a 1995 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that found the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from imposing congressional qualifications in addition to those spelled out in the Constitution itself.

He's pointed out an example of a Republican who stepped down from the bench and ran for Congress a few months later: Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Alice Gilbert resigned in May 1992 to run in the August 1992 Republican primary for the U.S. House in the 11th District. She lost to Joe Knollenberg and later returned to the bench. 

The Michigan Republican Party filed an ethics complaint against Marlinga last month with the state Judicial Tenure Commission, calling for an investigation.

The GOP contends that Marlinga’s political campaign activity as a sitting judge violated Michigan judicial ethics rules, and that his campaign violates the state constitution.

A state GOP spokesman has said the party is seeking a resolution from the state's judicial ethics commission but hasn't ruled out other options like litigation. 

Marlinga has said he did nothing wrong. He sought a legal opinion from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's Office about his eligibility to run for Congress this year, but Nessel's office declined to weigh in.

Marlinga also sought the counsel of election attorney Mark Brewer, a Democrat and former state party chair, who penned a legal memo noting an attorney general's opinion on the matter dating to 1942. That's when Attorney General Herbert Rushton opined that a similar prohibition in the 1908 constitution did not apply to candidates for federal office. 

According to Brewer, Rushton's opinion was issued in response to the case of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Homer Ferguson, a Republican who resigned from the bench to run for the U.S. Senate and won, going on to serve two terms.

Brewer's memo also points to the 1995 opinion by the U.S. Supreme Court in United States Term Limits v. Thornton that prohibits states from adding qualifications for federal office to those spelled out in the U.S. Constitution.

"No state constitution or statute can override the U.S. Constitution. We learned that in the 7th grade," Marlinga said Monday.

Republicans on Monday raised the federal corruption charges filed against Marlinga in 2004, of which he was acquitted in 2006. 

He had faced up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for allegedly swapping favors in two rape cases for contributions to his unsuccessful 2002 campaign for U.S. House. 

Marlinga noted the jury found him not guilty. "In both cases, if you get into the details of them, I did the right thing for the right reason," he said. "And the right results were obtained in both."

Those charges prompted Marlinga to step down as Macomb County's prosecutor in 2004 after 20 years on the job. He later joined the bench, starting as probate judge in 2013 and was later elected to the 16th Judicial Circuit Court in 2016.

“We knew the fix was in the Democrat party to coax corrupt Carl Marlinga to run for Congress against John James, a decorated veteran who served his country with honor and distinction,” MIGOP spokesman Gustavo Portela said.

"We’re going to fight to keep corrupt Democrats who want to defund the police, want to force Michiganders to pay more, and are going along to get along out of Washington."

Earlier in his career, Marlinga served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan and as a special trial attorney with the U.S. Justice Department’s Organized Crime Strike Force, assigned to the Detroit office, according to his biography. 

A year ago, Marlinga interviewed for the U.S. Attorney opening in the Eastern District of Michigan, but he didn't get the job. The post went to prosecutor Dawn Ison.

Marlinga graduated from the University of Detroit and got his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. 

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Staff writer Robert Snell contributed.