The Honorable Allie Greenleaf Maldonado was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2023. She is the first citizen of a federally recognized tribe to serve on the Michigan Court of Appeals. In addition to being a citizen of the State of Michigan, she is a citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB) and a member of the Turtle Clan.
In 2014, Judge Maldonado was voted Michigan Lawyers Weekly Woman of the Year. In 2015, she was privileged to be selected as the Unsung Hero for the State Bar of Michigan Representative Assembly. Moreover, in 2016, she was chosen by Harvard Law School as an honoree for International Women’s Day. In 2017, the Detroit News named her a Michiganian of the Year. In 2018, she contributed a chapter to the New Press’s book, titled Tough Cases. In 2022, she was honored with the Mary S. Coleman Award by the Women Lawyer’s Association of Michigan and the Tecumseh Peacekeeping Award from the Indian Law Section of the State Bar.

Judge Maldonado graduated from the University of Michigan (U-M) Law School. While at U-M, she served as a Contributing Editor for the University of Michigan Law Review. After graduation, Judge Maldonado was selected, through the highly competitive Honors Program at the United States Department of Justice, to serve as a litigator in the Indian Resources Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division.