{"id":4927,"date":"2016-02-04T15:58:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T19:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.mml.org\/wp\/inside208\/?p=4927"},"modified":"2016-02-04T15:58:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T19:58:03","slug":"federal-judge-omeara-plans-to-issue-ruling-on-pa-269-important-case-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mml.org\/inside208\/2016\/02\/04\/federal-judge-omeara-plans-to-issue-ruling-on-pa-269-important-case-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Judge O\u2019Meara Plans to Issue Ruling on PA 269, \u2018Important Case\u2019 Soon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dowagiac<\/a>

Dowagiac Mayor Donald Lyons\u00a0speaks at a recent news conference opposed to\u00a0PA 269. He is one of three League members listed as plaintiffs in a lawsuit.<\/p><\/div>\n

ANN ARBOR, Mich. <\/strong>\u2013 Recognizing the urgency of the case, U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O\u2019Meara today said he would issue a written ruling soon regarding a lawsuit charging that a \u201cgag order\u201d provision in Public Act 269 is unconstitutional and asking that the law be overturned.<\/p>\n

Judge O\u2019Meara heard oral arguments from both sides Thursday morning. Jerome R. Watson spoke as one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs – 17 local government officials and one private citizen. Defendants in the case are Secretary of State Ruth Johnson and the State of Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe heart of this case is not about misusing public funds. This case is about abusing First Amendment rights. This case is all about censorship of speech,\u201d said Watson, of the Miller Canfield law firm, during the hearing at the U.S. District Court, Federal Building in Ann Arbor.<\/p>\n

Calling it an \u201cimportant case,\u201d Judge O\u2019Meara said he hoped to issue a decision soon on the plaintiffs\u2019 request for a preliminary injunction. The case is regarding Subsection 57(3) of Public Act 269, which amended Michigan\u2019s Campaign Finance Act. State law already prohibits governmental officials from using tax dollars to advocate for or against a proposal. This new provision goes far beyond what is constitutionally permissible.<\/p>\n

Specifically, subsection 57(3) bans local officials or employees of local governments and school districts from using public resources to communicate with voters by giving them factual information about a ballot measure through radio, television, mass mailing or prerecorded telephone messages within 60 days of the election.<\/p>\n

There is urgency to this case because more than 100 school districts and local governments have issues on the March 8 ballot and already are being affected by the 60-day gag order time period.<\/p>\n

The case is Robert Taylor et al v. Ruth Johnson and the State of Michigan. <\/em>It was filed Jan. 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, based in Detroit.<\/p>\n

Lawsuit plaintiffs include Michigan Municipal League members Roseville Mayor Robert Taylor, Algonac City Manager Douglas R. Alexander, and Dowagiac Mayor Donald Lyons. Other plaintiffs are Tuscola County Commissioner Matthew Bierlein; New Haven Community Schools Superintendent Todd R. Robinson; Riverview Community Schools School Board President Gary O\u2019Brien and Superintendent Russell Pickell; Tecumseh School Board President Kimberly Amstutz-Wild and Superintendent Gary O\u2019Brien; Waterford School District School Board President Robert Seeterlin and Superintendent Keith Wunderlich; Goodrich Area Schools Superintendent Michelle Imbrunone; Clinton Community Schools Superintendent David P. Pray; Byron Area Schools School Board President Amy Lawrence and Superintendent Patricia Murphy-Alderman; Warren Consolidated School District Superintendent Robert D. Livernois; Lansing School District Superintendent Yvonne Caamal Canul; and Stephen Purchase, a private citizen.<\/p>\n

Matt Bach is director of media relations for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 810-874-1073.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANN ARBOR, Mich. \u2013 Recognizing the urgency of the case, U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O\u2019Meara today said he would issue a written ruling soon regarding a lawsuit charging that a \u201cgag order\u201d provision in Public Act 269 is unconstitutional and asking that the law be overturned. Judge O\u2019Meara […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[236,260,388,444,536],"class_list":["post-4927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections-2","tag-federal-lawsuit","tag-free-speech","tag-michigan-municipal-league","tag-pa-269","tag-sb-571","mml-onemagnify-plugin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFederal Judge O\u2019Meara Plans to Issue Ruling on PA 269, \u2018Important Case\u2019 Soon - Inside 208<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mml.org\/inside208\/2016\/02\/04\/federal-judge-omeara-plans-to-issue-ruling-on-pa-269-important-case-soon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal Judge O\u2019Meara Plans to Issue Ruling on PA 269, \u2018Important Case\u2019 Soon - Inside 208\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ANN ARBOR, Mich. \u2013 Recognizing the urgency of the case, U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O\u2019Meara today said he would issue a written ruling soon regarding a lawsuit charging that a \u201cgag order\u201d provision in Public Act 269 is unconstitutional and asking that the law be overturned. 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