LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court says a referendum on the state's emergency manager law will appear on the November ballot.
Republican Justice Mary Beth Kelly provided the crucial vote for Friday’s decision, joining three Democratic justices.
The court was asked to decide a technical issue: Did the petitions used to gather signatures have the right type size?
But its decision means voters will decide whether to keep or kill a law that sends powerful emergency managers into distressed communities and school districts to fix their finances.
The decision is also a major victory for unions, which represent many workers who have been laid off or whose pay has been slashed by emergency managers. It’s a significant loss for Republicans, especially Gov. Rick Snyder, who signed the law.
Republicans control Michigan’s highest court, 4-3, but GOP Justice Mary Beth Kelly broke from the majority in this case and provided the crucial vote to order the Board of State Canvassers to put the referendum on the ballot.
The Supreme Court was asked to decide a technical issue: Did the petitions used to gather signatures have the right type size? Kelly said they did, while three Democrats voted to uphold a decision by the appeals court. Combined, those four votes mean the issue will go to the voters.
The court heard oral arguments July 25 over a petition to overturn Michigan’s emergency manager law – and whether the petition should appear as a referendum on the November 2012 ballot.
In Stand Up for Democracy v Secretary of State, the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered the Board of State Canvassers, which had deadlocked 2-2 on whether to certify the petition, to place the measure on the November 2012 ballot.
Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, a group that opposes the referendum, argued that the petition signature forms did not comply with a statutory requirement for the petition headings to be in 14-point type. Stand Up for Democracy, the group seeking to have the measure placed on the ballot, contended that the petition does comply with the statute. Even if the heading type is smaller than 14 point, the group argued, the petition was in “substantial compliance” with statutory requirements. The Michigan Court of Appeals, while finding that the petition “contains a fatal formatting defect,” nevertheless ordered the Board of State Canvassers to place the measure on the ballot, finding that the petition did substantially comply with the heading type size requirement. The appeals court added that it would reach a different conclusion if the panel were not bound by an earlier Court of Appeals decision, Bloomfield Charter Township v Oakland County Clerk, 253 Mich App 1 (2002), which states that “substantial compliance” with statutory referenda requirements is sufficient.
Justice Mary Beth Kelly joined with Chief Justice Robert Young and Justices Brian Zahra and Stephen Markman in overruling Bloomfield, finding the doctrine of substantial compliance was not applicable, but she held with Justices Michael Cavanagh, Marilyn Kelly, and Diane Hathaway that the 14-point-type requirement was met, allowing the referendum to go forward
Emergency managers are in place in Benton Harbor, Flint, Pontiac and Ecorse, as well as in public schools in Detroit, Highland Park and Muskegon Heights.
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