Free Republic

Michigan legislators claim that the state government infringed on their constitutional rights when it used ballot initiatives to change election laws. Eleven Michigan Legislators have vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after U.S. District Court Judge Jane Beckering, a Biden-appointed judge, dismissed their federal lawsuit on April 11, citing a lack of standing. The lawmakers’ claim, filed Sept. 28, 2023, argues the 2018 and 2022 state constitutional amendments regulating time, place, and manner of federal elections are legally null and void because they usurped the legislators’ constitutionally protected rights. Plaintiffs include Republican Senators Jonathan Lindsey and Jim Runestad;...

The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, alleging the state’s voter rolls are inflated with ineligible voters. The suit claims that 53 of the state’s 83 counties have more registered voters than they do residents who are eligible to vote. Twenty-three other counties also allegedly have “suspiciously high” voter registration rates of 90 percent or more, which does not comport with the nationwide voter registration rate, according to the suit. The RNC sent a letter to Benson in December notifying the state of “78 Michigan counties that are in violation of...

Muslim and Jewish groups have filed a legal brief expressing concern about a Michigan law that might be used to force a Christian healthcare provider to hire people outside of their faith. Christian Healthcare Centers, Inc., a network of Christian medical professionals based in Grand Rapids that sued Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and other officials last year, is appealing a lower court decision against them.The Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty and the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team of the Religious Freedom Institute filed a brief last week that, while not in favor of either party in the lawsuit,...

A federal district court judge in Michigan on Thursday denied Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s efforts to dismiss a lawsuit against her office for failing to remove deceased registrants from the state’s voter rolls. In November, the Public Interest Legal Foundation filed the suit, claiming their analysis determined 25,975 dead Michiganders were registered to vote as of August 2021. Of those, 23,663 had been dead for five or more years, while 17,479 had been dead for more than a decade and 3,596 had been dead for at least 20 years.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has failed to convince a judge to dismiss a case that could force the state to remove 25,975 deceased people from its voter rolls. Benson moved for dismissal of a case brought against her in November 2021 by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) for her failure to clean up the state’s voter registration rolls—in an alleged violation of Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. On Aug. 25, Benson’s motion to dismiss the case was denied by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. The court also...