I spoke with Rep. Kildee about AG Schuette’s decision to join an anti-ACA lawsuit that could cost Michiganders millions. Last week, the news broke that Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette had signed on to a federal lawsuit that would raise taxes by eliminating tax credits available under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). So far, 86 percent of the Michiganders who […]

By joining an anti-ACA lawsuit, Michigan panders to Tea Party extremists at the expense of the middle class. It’s no secret that Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and Michigan Republicans detest the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They’ve done everything they can to discredit or dismantle the law known as Obamacare, out of disdain for President Obama and what they consider […]

I pledge allegiance to flag of the Corporate State of America… State Attorney General Bill Schuette’s job is to be the top law enforcement official in Michigan. As part of that job, his role is to protect the health and safety of Michiganders. Apparently he didn’t get the memo. Schuette has sued the Environmental Protection Agency to keep them from […]

Where are your actual loyalties, Mr. Schuette? In a Detroit Free Press article yesterday, two legal experts suggest that Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s claim that there is no conflict of interest between his representation of the State of Michigan at the same time he’s defending the rights of retired pensioners in the Detroit’s bankruptcy. Indeed, many people (including me), […]

Vasectomies: Harming society since … wait. WHAT?!? I have written in the past about Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer, a Michigan couple who is suing the state to allow them, as a lesbian couple, to adopt each other’s children. When they brought their case before U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman, he encourage them to challenge Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriages […]

Color me skeptical The Detroit Free Press reports that Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette will file papework in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit to defend state constitutional protections of the pensions of city retirees. Invoking his role as “the people’s attorney,” Schuette said he will file in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit on Monday to intervene in the city’s […]

Michigan citizens: 1, Attorney General Bill Schuette: 0

Back in January, I wrote about a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, the MEA, the AFL-CIO and others that challenged Michigan’s Right to Work law since it was passed in violation of the Michigan Open Meetings Act. Because Republicans locked citizens (and Democratic lawmakers) out of the building during the vote, the plaintiffs say the law should be invalidated.

This could be a HUGE deal because Republicans passed the legislation by a margin that was larger than than the margin they hold in the House after last November’s election. They would be forced to bring more of their GOP caucus over to vote yes on this legislation which may be difficult do, politically speaking.

Yesterday, Ingham County Circuit Judge William Collette overruled a request by Attorney General Bill Schuette to throw the case out of court.

Details after the jump.

If it’s a union-negotiated contract, it’s GOT to go

The Michigan Court of Appeals smacked down a lawsuit by Michigan Tea Party Attorney General Bill Schuette that attacked a union-negotiated contract that allowed for healthcare benefits for the domestic partners unionized state employees.

The contract does not specifically reference same-sex couples but they ARE covered by it so, of course, our AG felt the need to attack it. After all, anything that benefits both teh gayz and union members is not to be tolerated.

More after the jump.

Score one for the good guys

The Michigan Court of Appeals has once again ordered the Republicans on the Board of State Canvassers to halt their efforts to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Michigan voters and directed them to place the Protect Working Families, formerly Protect Our Jobs, ballot initiative on the November ballot.

This marks the second time the Court of Appeals has done this after ordering the elections board to put the repeal of Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager Law, on the ballot as well. Opponents of that took their fight to the Supreme Court where they ultimately lost.

More after the jump.

When you’re in the news this much, something is wrong

It’s not unusual for a state Attorney General to be in the news from time to time. If they are doing their job, that’s part of the job description. But Michigan AG Bill Schuette finds himself at the center of not one, but TWO big news stories. What his involvement in these two stories shows is that Bill Schuette is using his position as the Attorney General of Michigan to pursue a hardcore right wing, anti-labor agenda that benefits his political allies and harms his political foes.

Details after the jump.

BRAAA-AAAINS!!!

With the approval of the PA 4 repeal ballot initiative imminent, the predictable (and predicted) fight over what happens next is fully underway.

Using a truly astonishing act of mental gymnastics and pretzel logic, Republicans, aided and abetted by Attorney General Bill Schuette, are convinced that we will simply revert to the original statute, Public Act 72. Though this law gave Emergency Financial Managers much less abusive authority than the Emergency Managers under Public Act 4, those municipalities and school districts currently under the thumb of a local dictator beg to differ with this view of things.

Join me on the Zombie Law Roller Coaster after the jump.