This could signal an important foreshadowing of the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation of Michigan’s Emergency Manager law and its disparate impact on African Americans. The U.S. Department of Justice will block the voter ID provisions of an election law passed in South Carolina earlier this year because the state’s own statistics demonstrated that the photo identification requirement would have a […]

The effort by Michigan Forward to repeal the odious Emergency Manager Law in Michigan (Public Act 4) is nearing the final stages. However, they are still short of the necessary signatures to put this on the ballot in February. Many of the folks who were working the hardest on signature gathering over the summer were teachers who have now gone […]

Back in August, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder sought to bypass the normal court process and asked the Michigan Supreme Court to make a decision on the lawsuit challenging Public Act 4, the so-called Emergency Manager Law. (Details on the lawsuit filed by the Sugar Law Center and the Center for Constitutional Rights can be found HERE.) Sugar Law Center proceeded […]

The effort to repeal Public Act 4, the odious “Emergency Manager Law”, is in the final stages. They are now in a serious campaign to count the signatures they have get them verified. They need YOUR HELP with this effort. From LaToya A. Henry, the Secretary-Treasurer of Michigan Forward: We have begun doing Saturday data entry and verification for the […]

Last month, I wrote about how Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman was being asked to recuse himself from the suit challenging the constitutionality of the Emergency Manager Law. Lawyers fighting Michigan’s tough new emergency manager law want a Michigan Supreme Court justice to recuse himself from the case because his wife represents the government in a separate lawsuit challenging […]

As I reported back in April, two pension boards in the City of Detroit filed suit in the U.S. District Court challenging the Republican-passed Public Act 4 — The Emergency Manager Law. From a now-unavailable Detroit Free Press article: The City of Detroit’s two pension boards have challenged part of the state’s new emergency financial manager law, calling it unconstitutional […]

The Sugar Law Center is requesting that Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman recuse himself from anything related to their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager Law: Lawyers fighting Michigan’s tough new emergency manager law want a Michigan Supreme Court justice to recuse himself from the case because his wife represents the government in a […]

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Governor Rick Snyder has asked the Michigan Supreme Court to intervene in a Sugar Law Center lawsuit on behalf of 28 Michigan citizens, challenging Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager Law. Snyder asked the Court to expedite the process and make an instant decision, avoiding the discovery process and fact-finding that takes […]

The city councils of two of Michigan’s major cities have weighed in on the repeal of Public Act 4 and both are in support. More accurately, the Flint City Council is in support of putting it on the ballot for voters to decide. The Detroit City Council voiced more full-throated support of the repeal. Here’s the scoop on Flint: The […]

Last night I participated in a Repeal Public Act 4 townhall in Ypsilanti. Over 40 people attended to learn about the repeal effort and to ask questions. Participants received information from Representative David Rutledge from the 54th District, Michigan Forward CEO Brandon Jessup, Ypsilanti Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo, me and a number of others. In addition, attendees got instructions on […]

In case you missed the first Repeal P.A. 4 townhall in Ann Arbor, there is a second one this Monday night in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Date: Monday, July 25, 2011Location: Metropolitan Memorial Full Gospel Baptist Church – 431 Hawkins St., Time: 6:45-8:45. This event is an informational townhall meeting on the effort to repeal Public Act 4 (aka “the Financial Martial […]