By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Sat Sep 01, 2012 at 12:14:52 AM EST
Tags: Michigan Supreme Court, 2012 vacancy nomination, Bob Young, Mary Beth Kelly, Wayne County Circuit Court, Colleen O'Brien, Oakland County Circuit Court, trust but verify . . . always, Colleen Pero, Norm Shinkle, James Waters, Julie Matuzak, Casino Gaming Amendment, International Bridge Initiative, Taxation Amendment, Protect Our Jobs Amendment (all tags)
The headline on the front page of the Saturday paper was "CHAOS!" in four-inch, boldface, all-caps block type, punctuated by an exclamation point just in case passers-by didn't get the hint. The article underneath the attention-grabber discussed the previous day's 4-3 ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court in Stand Up For Democracy v Citizens For Fiscal Responsibility, in which Justice Mary Beth Kelly, accomplishing a legal parse worthy of John Roberts, sided with Justices Michael Cavanagh, Marilyn Kelly, and Diane Hathaway and voted to order the Emergency Manager Referendum onto the November 2012 statewide general ballot, and touched off a power struggle involving contradictory claims about the status of municipalities and school districts currently operating under emergency managers. Also in that same Saturday paper was a statement from Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, a statement from Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, and an op-ed piece from Stephen Henderson urging a rejection of the repeal (which he followed up on in more detail in his Sunday News & Views column).
Who says a Friday news dump doesn't get much attention?
And now, because of the actions of the Board of State Canvassers, we have a situation that may involve another Friday news dump . . . on a weekend when both of this state's major political parties have other things to do.
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