Group wins key court ruling in pursuit of Schuette emails

By Ed White
Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court on Monday revived a lawsuit over access to possible emails about state business exchanged by Attorney General Bill Schuette and his staff on their personal accounts when he was in office.

A liberal advocacy group, Progress Michigan, filed a lawsuit in 2017 after being told that only one email fit that category and it could be withheld. The state appeals court ruled against the group solely on procedural grounds and dismissed the lawsuit in 2018.

But the Supreme Court reversed that decision and sent the case back to the Court of Claims where it had started.

“With this procedural hurdle out of the way, we’re confident we can win on the merits of our case,” said Lonnie Scott, director of Progress Michigan.

The group was seeking any state-related emails on private accounts by Schuette, who’s a Republican, or 20 staff members at a time when he was getting ready to run for governor. The staff included key aides Rusty Hills and John Sellek; Matthew Schneider, who’s now U.S. Attorney in Detroit; and John Bursch, who was the top appellate lawyer in the attorney general’s office.

Schuette lost the governor’s race in 2018 and is out of public office. He said he hadn’t read the Supreme Court opinion and declined to comment.

The attorney general’s office, now under the control of Dana Nessel, a Democrat, is defending against the lawsuit.

Progress Michigan’s attorney, Mark Brewer, said the group had obtained emails from other sources before filing a public records request and the subsequent lawsuit.

“We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” Brewer said. “Were they destroyed? Where are they? ... It’s a great victory for transparency.”