SBM Blog

The Michigan Catholic Conference Brief Against The Contraceptive Insurance Requirement

There are nine counts and 59 pages in the lawsuit filed yesterday in the Federal District Court of the Southern District of Ohio by the Michigan Catholic Conference and the Franciscan University of Steubenville challenging the federal requirement that employers (in the words of the brief) "provide, pay for, and/or facilitate the provision of abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraceptive services" for their employees. Among its provisions, the brief asks for clarity in exemption provisions that have been described as a compromise, and notes the time required to analyze and implement.  See, for example, paragraphs 208-213. Download the complaint here.

Judicial Vacancy: 37th District Court, Macomb County

The Governor is seeking applications to fill the 37th District Court judgeship being vacated by the Hon. Dawnn Gruenburg. If you meet the qualifications for the office you must apply by June 13. Along with the application, you are also asked to submit a copy of your resume.

COA: State Financial Review Teams Not Subject To FOIA

From the opinion (PDF):

We hold that a financial review team, and therefore the Detroit Financial Review Team, is not a “governing body” and therefore is not a “public body” under the Open Meetings Act and is not statutorily required to comply with the Open Meetings Act. We also conclude that the State Treasurer, whether acting in his executive capacity or as a “one-man” committee of the Detroit Financial Review Team, is not a “public body.”

We further conclude that the trial court’s various rulings and orders in these consolidated cases on their face constituted injunctive relief, and we hold that the trial court abused its discretion when it issued such injunctive relief. We therefore reverse and vacate these rulings and orders in their entirety. Accordingly, as to Docket Nos. 309218 and 309260, we remand to the trial court for entry of judgment in favor of defendants as to the merits of the Open Meetings Act claims brought by Davis and McNeil, respectively. However, in Docket No. 309250, we remand for an evidentiary hearing on Davis’s allegations that various state officials and members of the Detroit Financial Review Team were in contempt of court.

Judge James Ryan Makes The Case For Judicial Selection Reform in Michigan

 

On WKAR's Off the Record, former Michigan Supreme Court justice and federal 6th Circuit judge James Ryan responds to questions about the recommendations of the Judicial Selection Task Force, which he co-chaired with Justice Marilyn Kelly. (By clicking on the triangle in the video you can magically transform Michigan Radio's Rick Pluta into Ryan.)  Read the Judicial Selection Task Force Report here.

Walk This Way

A bill introduced in the Michigan Senate would name the pedestrian walk between the Capitol and the Hall of Justice the "Frank J. Kelley Promenade." Considering the number of times the former Michigan Attorney General walked between the Legislature and the Supreme Court, metaphorically, in his 37-year tenure, I'd say the Legislature couldn't possibly come up with a better name. And seeing as the bill is sponsored by all 38 Senators, it looks like its chances are good.

HT: The Michigan Lawyer

Judicial Vacancy: 36th District Court, Detroit

The Governor is seeking applications to fill the 36th District Court, Detroit judgeship being vacated by the Hon. Willie G. Lipscomb, Jr. If you meet the qualifications for the office you must apply by May 25. Along with the application, you are also asked to submit a copy of your resume.

Michigan Lawsuit Filed Against Contraception Access Requirement in Health Care Act

The Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center has filed a lawsuit in the 6th circuit to permanently block the implementation of the federal health care act requirement concerning insurance coverage for contraception and abortion, asserting that its implementation violates the free exercise and establishment clauses of the First Amendment, as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The plaintiffs are Legatus, an organization of Catholic business CEOs and professional leaders; and the Weingartz Supply Company, a Michigan retailer, and its president. From the complaint (PDF):

The Affordable Care Act’s contraception, abortion, and abortifacient mandate violates the rights of Plaintiff Legatus as a Catholic organization, and the individuals that comprise Legatus, such as its employees and its over 4,000 members comprised of devoutly Catholic business persons and their spouses from over 2,100 Catholic-run companies in the United States.

Of Fonts and Sizes and The People's Right to Read and Vote

We don't have access to the briefs challenging and defending the petitions filed to force a referendum on the Emergency Manager Law in the Court of Appeals, but the Board of Canvassers deadlock over the question of whether the heading of the petitions satisfies the statutory requirement (MCL 168.821(1) that the heading of the petition be "printed in capital letters in 14-point boldfaced type" caused us to wonder about how much variation that bare requirement allows. What follows are words printed in caps using the Word selection for 14-point boldfaced type, starting with the font the Emergency Manager Law referendum petitions used. (The results have been scaled back down to fit the post, but the relative proportions are accurate):

 

 

 

 

 

 

One obvious lesson is that even a very specific statutory requirement ("14-point boldfaced type") doesn't necessarily deliver the uniformity and clarity presumably intended.

Med-Mal Legislative Package Introduced

A package of bills designed to change Michigan's laws concerning medical malpractice was introduced May 3 in the State Senate.  The bills are:

SB 1115  Torts; medical malpractice; procedures for entry of damage awards; modify and clarify. Amends secs. 1483, 2959, 6306 & 6307 of 1961 PA 236 (MCL 600.1483 et seq.) & adds sec. 6306a.

SB 1116  Torts; medical malpractice; physician judgment rule; enact. Amends sec. 2912a of 1961 PA 236 (MCL 600.2912a).

SB 1117  Torts; medical malpractice; persons to whom medical malpractice provisions of the revised judicature act apply; include nonlicensed health care providers. Amends secs. 2169 & 2912 of 1961 PA 236 (MCL 600.2169 & 600.2912).

SB 1118  Torts; medical malpractice; statute of limitations; revise period of limitations for survival actions and disallow prejudgment interest on attorney fees and costs. Amends secs. 2912e, 5852 & 6013 of 1961 PA 236 (MCL 600.2912e et seq.).

Michigan's Judicial Selection Process and the Problem of Perception

The problem with saying out loud that Michigan's system of electing our Supreme Court justices undermines public confidence in the Court is that people might conclude that we don't just have a perception problem, we have an actual problem -- that because their campaigns are funded by private contribution justices are de facto corrupt. The problem is neatly illustrated in Brian Dickerson's column this weekend in the Free Press, "The case of money v. justice in Supreme Court," in which he says:

State Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly and U.S. Court of Appeals Judge James Ryan are two of the most experienced jurists in Michigan. They tend to diverge on political matters -- she's a liberal Democrat, he's a conservative Republican -- but between them is more than 25 years of service on our state's highest court.

So when Kelly and Ryan stand up at a press conference to tell you that court has been bought and paid for by special interests, it should get your attention.

They didn't come right out and say that, of course, because both are extremely courteous people, and they do not want to suggest that justices with whom they have appeared in countless official photographs have the same ethical standards as, say, Kwame Kilpatrick.

Fact is, the distinguished and very knowledgeable co-chairs of the Judicial Selection Task Force not only didn't say that the Court has been bought and paid for by special interests, they, and the Report (PDF) issued by the Task Force last month, were scrupulous about not saying that because that's not what the members of the Task Force believe.

I know. I was there. (I served as a member of the Task Force. The State Bar itself has not yet considered or taken a position on the Report's package of recommendations.)

Here's part of what the Task Force Report had to say:

As a result of undisclosed spending, citizens and litigants alike lack a sound basis for confidence in the impartiality of their highest court. Michigan voters already believe that campaign spending has infected the decision-making of their judiciary; 63% believe that judicial campaign contributions have a lot or some influence on the decisions judges make. Perhaps this explains the overwhelming support nationwide for full-disclosure laws among both Democrats (86% in favor) and Republicans (88% in favor). In Michigan, 96% of voters believe it is very or somewhat important to require public disclosure of all sources of spending for judicial elections.

The Task Force worried a great deal about the danger of others bootstrapping the Task Force identification of the perception problem into a conclusion of actual corruption. But the Task Force concluded that the actual problem of public perception is real and urgent, that there are sensible, practical remedies, and that the time to act is now, before the problem becomes worse. To conclude that we shouldn't do anything about the perception problem because there is no proof of corruption is kinda like saying that Iago wasn't really a problem in Othello's marriage because Desdemona was actually faithful. And we all know how that worked out.

Art: Eugène Delacroix, Othello and Desdemona, c. 1847-1849, National Gallery of Canada