A federal lawsuit filed by opponents of Michigan's emergency manager law zeroes in on the powers Public Act 436 gives to the state, and those it takes away from residents who vote local elected officials into office.
Matt Helms and Joe Guillen write in the Free Press that the lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, just two days into Kevyn Orr's tenure as the state-appointed emergency manager in charge of stabilizing Detroit, a city on the brink of bankruptcy, rests on questions that have troubled critics for years: Does the emergency manager law violate the voting rights of residents by tossing out their ability to elect local leaders? And is it being unfairly applied to cities across Michigan when it comes to race?
Wayne State University law professor Robert Sedler, who specializes in constitutional law, said Thursday that the lawsuit raises "a serious question of whether this violates equal protection" because the Constitution says laws and rights must be applied evenly to all citizens.
