Attorney General Dana Nessel files brief in support of getting abortion amendment on the ballot
(CBS DETROIT) - Attorney General Dana Nessel filed an amicus brief in support of Reproductive Freedom for All (RFFA) and its appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court to put its ballot question before voters this November.
The brief argues that the Board of State Canvassers acted beyond its authority in challenging the spacing between words in the text of the proposed ballot language.
The RFFA submitted a petition with about 750,000 signatures to get abortion care on the ballot on July 11, and after sampling to determine if a sufficient number of signatures was submitted, it was found that the petition contained 596,379 valid signatures, which is 146,228 more than the minimum threshold for certification.
According to the brief, Citizens to Support MI Women and Children (WAC) then challenged the petition saying, "The Board must reject the Petition because it seeks to insert nonexistent words into the Michigan Constitution," and referred to the insufficient word spacing.
On Aug. 31, two members of the Board voted against the petition based on the word spacing challenge.
Nessel said, "the Board of State Canvassers—a ministerial body without any legal powers or judgment of its own—effectively usurped the Legislature's authority by refusing to approve the petition, ostensibly because two of the Board's members thought the word spacing was insufficient. They effectively created and applied legislation. By aggrandizing itself, the unelected Board has treated the Constitution of this State as an advisory document and stripped the People of their right to amend their Constitution."
The Department of Attorney General filed its amicus brief in support of the emergency application filed by RFFA under the Michigan Court Rules.
To view the brief, visit here.
