Honorable Stewart D. McDonald

Professional Service
Judge McDonald was elected by the voters as District Court Judge of the 65B District Court in County for a six year term commencing January 2009. Prior to his election, Judge McDonald spent 29 years in the private practice of law in Gratiot County representing clients in a wide variety of criminal and civil legal matters in Circuit, Juvenile, Probate and District Courts throughout numerous counties in Michigan.

Judge McDonald devoted a substantial portion of his practice to all civil and criminal matters handled by the District Courts. Prior to his election, Judge McDonald served in various community service capacities and was also an elected Alma City Commissioner for 14 years and served 8 years as Mayor of the City of Alma.

Personal Information
A lifelong resident of County, Judge McDonald has been married to his wife Dorothy for 30 years and they have two adult children and four grandchildren.

Commitment to Serve
Bringing substantial experience to the bench, Judge McDonald’s commitment to all who are involved in District Court is to provide full, fair and equal access to justice in the court in an orderly, efficient and respectful manner. Judge McDonald is fiscally conservative with taxpayer funds and strives to operate the court for the benefit of all affected by its operations in the most cost effective manner possible.

Protecting and promoting public safety in our Gratiot communities and balancing our community needs for strong law enforcement with protection of our individual constitutional and due process rights is a paramount and continuing priority for Judge McDonald in his position as judge of the District Court.