I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
The Michigan Supreme Court will hear oral argument this morning in a class action lawsuit challenging the state of Michigan for violating the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by failing to provide adequate legal defense for poor defendants who cannot afford their own attorney. The Associated Press reports:
The American Civil Liberties Union sued in 2007 on behalf of defendants in Berrien, Genesee and Muskegon counties, saying Michigan is failing to meet its Sixth Amendment responsibility. The complaint said court-appointed lawyers in those counties were either too rushed or feared they wouldn’t get more work if they slowed down the docket with motions or requests for expert assistance.
The state challenged the suit, saying indigent defense is a county responsibility and judges should leave it to the Legislature or governor to make changes.
“It is the role of the political branches, not that of the courts, to shape the institutions of government in such fashion as to comply with the laws and the Constitution,” Attorney General Mike Cox and several assistants wrote in a brief filed Feb. 8.
A study last year by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association concluded that Michigan has one of the worst public defender systems in the nation, with underpaid and overworked attorneys trying to defend far too many clients with too few resources — and all while being dependent on prosecutors and judges to keep their jobs.
The state’s brief is correct, of course, that the job of designing and funding the public defender system is up to the governor and the legislature, but that is not a valid argument against judgment in this case. The court is certainly within its prerogative to declare that the current system fails to meet the constitutional standard and order the legislature to reform it.
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