Campaign Legal Center Joins Michigan’s Fight to Protect Citizen-Led Redistricting Commission

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CLC is serving as co-counsel with Voters Not Politicians

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. – A federal district court today has granted Campaign Legal Center (CLC)’s motion to intervene in two lawsuits over the state’s newly enacted Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission. CLC and Michigan law firm Fraser Trebilcock are representing Voters Not Politicians (VNP), a citizen-led, volunteer organization that collected over 425,000 signatures from voters in just 110 days. The constitutional amendment to create a voter-led commission – designed to establish a new level of transparency in the state’s future redistricting process – passed with 61% of the vote in the November 2018 election and was enshrined in Michigan’s constitution on Dec. 22, 2018. VNP now seeks to preserve that victory.

“Michigan voters in 2018 said loud and clear that they want a say in the way their district lines are drawn,” said Paul Smith, vice president at CLC. “We are proud to join Voters Not Politicians in the fight to protect Michigan’s democratically-enacted Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, a reform that will take the political incentives out of the redistricting process. There is unprecedented energy across America behind the movement to take back redistricting power so that voters are choosing their elected officials and not vice versa. When citizens have a chance to take democracy into their own hands, they have consistently supported measures to end partisan gerrymandering.”

The first lawsuit, Daunt v. Benson, was filed by 15 plaintiffs on July 30, 2019. Backed by the Fair Lines America Foundation, a nonprofit with ties to the National Republican Redistricting Trust, the plaintiffs are challenging the constitutionality of the provisions that disqualify partisan candidates, political party leaders, paid political consultants, employees of the legislature, lobbyists, certain political appointees and immediate family members of the people listed above from serving on the commission.

A new legal challenge, Michigan Republican Party v. Benson, was filed on Aug. 22, 2019. It argues that various provisions of the amendment interfere with the party’s freedom of association and other constitutional rights because they are not able to select the commissioners who represent their party.

Both lawsuits claim that the amendment violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment. They have been assigned to the same judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

"We are proud to welcome national redistricting experts Paul Smith and the Campaign Legal Center to our team. Since its founding, the Campaign Legal Center has been part of every landmark democracy case," said Nancy Wang, executive director of Voters Not Politicians. "With the federal courts unwilling to rein in extreme partisan gerrymandering, attacks against voter-led redistricting reforms like ours in Michigan will be the next critical battleground. With Paul Smith and the Campaign Legal Center on board to complement our Michigan counsel, I have no doubt we will prevail and the will of the people will be upheld."

If the commission is upheld in court, an independent body of 13 members – with four Republicans, four Democrats and five voters who do not identify with either party – will decide how the state legislative and Congressional districts will be drawn for use starting in the 2022 elections, a task previously handled by the Michigan legislature and enacted by the governor.

In its decision on June 27, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court failed to set a standard for partisan gerrymandering and ruled that it is up to the states to decide how they will redistrict. The Michigan amendment passed by VNP was mentioned as an example of how citizens can successfully take control of drawing election maps. A poll released earlier this year shows that at least 60% of Democrats, Republicans and Independents support the creation of independent commissions. VIDEO: Learn more about independent commissions.

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Redistricting

Resignation Leaves Federal Election Watchdog Without Authority to Take Official Action

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FEC is only government agency dedicated to overseeing the integrity of our political campaigns

WASHINGTON – Matthew Petersen, the vice chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), submitted a letter of resignation today to take affect this week; his departure will leave the agency with three vacancies and only three sitting commissioners, all serving on expired terms. The agency is prohibited by law from taking any official enforcement or regulatory action without a quorum of at least four commissioners. The FEC is the only government agency dedicated to overseeing the integrity of political campaigns, but the often-overlooked agency has been increasingly stymied in recent years by three-three or two-two deadlocks caused by commissioners who are ideologically opposed to enforcement of campaign finance laws.

Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and a former Republican Chairman of the FEC, released the following statement:

“President Trump and the U.S. Senate should treat this resignation as an emergency and agree on the nomination and confirmation of a new slate of FEC commissioners who are qualified for the job and committed to enforcing our nation’s election laws. Without a functioning election watchdog, the vulnerabilities in U.S. elections that were exposed in 2016 by Russia will be exploited to greater effect by foreign and domestic actors in the 2020 election and beyond. The public’s right to fair and transparent elections is at stake. In the 2020 election, political spending is expected to reach nearly $10 billion. With the campaign season in full swing, there is no time to waste in securing our democracy. Russia exploited a weak FEC to covertly meddle in U.S. elections through digital ads and the FEC has a pending rulemaking to tighten disclosure requirements. If President Trump and the U.S. Senate commit to restoring the FEC, we could properly police foreign interference in elections, prevent illegal coordination between candidates and super PACs, stop government contractors from attempting to buy contracts with campaign donations, and much more.”

Between 1999 and 2008, the FEC issued $33.6 million in fines (adjusted for inflation) for campaign finance violations. But over the next ten years, 2009 to 2018, the amount of fines dropped to just $11.4 million, even as more money has been spent in each election cycle. 

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Campaign Finance

Daunt v. Benson

At a Glance

Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment to create an independent redistricting commission to redraw the state’s voting districts. Two groups of plaintiffs sued to block its implementation. CLC serves as co-counsel for the Defendant Voters Not Politicians, a nonpartisan, citizen-led organization that worked to pass the constitutional amendment, and is defending its constitutionality.

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Active
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Redistricting
About This Case/Action

Fed up with partisan gerrymandering in Michigan’s state legislative and congressional districts, Voters Not Politicians (VNP) proposed a ballot initiative in Michigan that would create an independent redistricting commission (IRC), passing it overwhelmingly in November 2018. After volunteers collected over 425,000 signatures from Michigan voters in every one of the state’s counties, submitted the initiative to be put on the general election ballot in November, and survived several legal challenges, Proposal 2 was put on the ballot in the midterm election. On November 6, 2018, 61% (over 2.5 million) of Michigan voters passed Proposal 2, amending the Michigan Constitution to establish an IRC. Michigan voters of both major political parties supported the amendment, including voters in 67 of Michigan’s 83 counties.

IRCs take the power of redistricting out of the hands of partisan legislators, who have proven that they will use the process to gain power when given the opportunity to do so. IRCs instead give the power to the citizens to choose their representatives and create a more fair and transparent process for redrawing districts. Michigan’s IRC as approved by the voters will first be in place in the 2020 redistricting cycle. The commission will consist of 13 registered voters, four of whom are Republicans, four of whom are Democrats, and five who self-identify as unaffiliated with either of the two major political parties. The process will allow for public input, public hearings, and public access to all the data, documents, and software used by the commission. The constitutional amendment also established redistricting criteria for the commissioners to follow to ensure fairer maps, including:

  • complying with the federal Voting Rights Act
  • not disproportionately favoring any political party or incumbent
  • respecting communities of interest
  • respecting county, city, and township lines
  • geographic compactness
  • contiguity
  • equal population

Finally, the amendment established certain eligibility requirements for citizens applying for the role of a commissioner, in order to prevent conflicts of interest. These include prohibiting partisan officeholders and candidates, their paid employees, certain relatives, officers or leaders of a political party and lobbyists from serving as commissioners. Any citizen who cannot participate as a commissioner can still participate in the redistricting process, whether by participating at public hearings or submitting proposed maps.

On July 30, 2019, a group of 15 plaintiffs that identify as Republicans sued Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, alleging that the commission’s eligibility requirements are unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Plaintiffs also argue that the allegedly unconstitutional eligibility requirements are not severable from the rest of the amendment, meaning the whole amendment must be struck down. The plaintiffs requested a temporary delay to prevent Secretary Benson from implementing or preparing to select commissioners to serve on the commission.

On August 22, 2019, the Michigan Republican Party and several affiliated individuals also sued Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, alleging that the commission’s eligibility requirements are unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The plaintiffs requested an injunction and declaratory order to prevent Secretary Benson from implementing or preparing to select commissioners to serve on the commission.

CLC represents VNP as a Proposed Intervenor-Defendant in both cases. VNP moved to intervene in the lawsuit shortly after it was filed, in order to offer its expertise and insights as the drafter and sponsor of the constitutional amendment at issue and defend the constitutionality of the eligibility requirements for commissioners and the amendment.

On September 11, 2019, Michigan Republican Party v. Benson was consolidated with Daunt v. Benson. The consolidated cases will proceed under the name of the Lead Case, Daunt v. Benson. 

Associated Cases & Actions

Movement to Establish Citizen-Led Redistricting Commissions in the States
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