Bombshell ruling requires 13 Michigan districts held by Dems to be redrawn before election

With less than a year until the 2024 election, 13 of Michigan’s House and Senate districts, all currently held by Democrats, will need to be redrawn.

That was the ruling late Thursday by a panel of three federal judges in a lawsuit, Agee v. Benson, that went to trial in November and alleged the legislative boundaries drawn up by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) violated the Voting Rights Act (VRA) by diluting Black voting power in more than a dozen Detroit-area legislative districts.

“The record here shows overwhelmingly — indeed, inescapably — that the Commission drew the boundaries of plaintiffs’ districts predominantly on the basis of race,” stated the opinion. “We hold that those districts were drawn in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.”

The opinion came from U.S. Circuit Judge Raymond M. Kethledge and U.S. District Court Judges Paul L. Maloney and Janet T. Neff, who were all appointed by Republican former President George W. Bush.

The plaintiffs, 19 African-American Detroiters who live in 13 different Michigan House and Senate districts that each include a portion of Detroit, filed the suit in March 2022.

One of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs is John Bursch, a former state solicitor general under GOP former Attorney General Bill Schuette who has represented anti-LGBTQ+ rights and anti-abortion causes.

The MICRC was created after voters approved a 2018 amendment to the state Constitution and it crafted new maps that were used for the 2022 election. Prior to that, the Legislature would draw maps every 10 years and the governor would have to approve them. With Republicans controlling Michigan government during the two previous redistricting cycles, district lines had favored the GOP.

The judges concluded that the MICRC improperly reduced Black voting percentages, preventing a “Black-preferred candidate” from successfully making it through a primary election.

“As the Supreme Court has put it, (Section 2) of the VRA requires that — when a minority group is large and compact enough to elect its preferred candidates, as black voters obviously are in Detroit — those voters cannot be broken up and “submerged in a larger white voting population” that usually defeats the minority group’s preferred candidates,” said the unanimous opinion signed by all three judges.

However, Neff, in a concurring opinion, said while she believed the ruling was correct in its legal conclusion, it was “unnecessarily harsh” to the commission and its experts, and concluded that none of the decisions were ill-intentioned.

“The thirteen civic-minded commissioners had a difficult job with scant preparation and nearly no experience in the reapportionment process. A difficult task became nearly impossible for the Commission when the pandemic hit in 2020,” she wrote. “In the face of such a daunting task, the extensive quotes of the Commission’s work reflected all the best that could be expected: they took the work seriously, they worked hard to learn the job, they cooperated and collaborated, and they wanted to do the job well and right. Any suggestion otherwise does a disservice to the men and women who undertook a very difficult and unprecedented task.”

The judges asked parties to weigh in on a special master assisting the MICRC with the redistricting process.

However, the new boundaries could also impact other neighboring districts.

In reaction, Michigan Secretary of State spokesperson Angela Benander told the Michigan Advance that Jocelyn Benson would continue to fulfill her responsibilities to the commission.

“Her priority and role remains ensuring all voters and candidates have the clarity they need to fully participate in all elections and working with clerks to ensure any changes in districts are effectively communicated to all who are impacted,” she said.

With Democrats having slender majorities in both chambers, including a current tie in the House following two resignations, the ruling threatens to have major implications for control of the Michigan Legislature

The judges set a Jan. 2 deadline for the plaintiffs and the MICRC to submit briefs addressing how legislative district boundaries should be redrawn.

That’s just a day before the Michigan Secretary of State will hold a random drawing to replace one of the MICRC members, Paul Witjes, who resigned Wednesday after registering to vote in Illinois where he had moved more than a year ago to pursue a career opportunity.

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