IN RE REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION REGARDING CONSTITUTIONALITY OF 2005 PA 71

Docket No. 130589. Calendar No. 1.

740 N.W.2d 444 (2007)

479 Mich. 1

In re REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION REGARDING CONSTITUTIONALITY OF 2005 PA 71.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Decided July 18, 2007.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Michael A. Cox, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, Susan Leffler, Assistant Attorney General for Law, and Heather S. Meingast, Assistant Attorney General, Lansing, for the Attorney General in support of the constitutionality of 2005 PA 71.

Michael A. Cox, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, Henry J. Boynton, Assistant Solicitor General, and Ron D. Robinson, Assistant Attorney General, Division Chief, Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Division, Detroit, for the Attorney General opposing the constitutionality of 2005 PA 71.

Kelly G. Keenan and Steven C. Liedel, Lansing, for amici curiae Governor Jennifer M. Granholm.

Dickinson Wright P.L.L.C. (by Peter H. Ellsworth, Jeffery V. Stuckey and Allen L. Lanstra) and Craig De Roche, Lansing, for the Michigan House of Representatives.

Mark McWilliams and Veena Rao, Lansing, for amici curiae Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, Inc.

Michael A. Cox, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, Ron D. Robinson, Assistant Attorney General, Division Chief, Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Division, and Genevieve Dwaihy Tusa, Assistant Attorney General, Detroit, for amici curiae Michigan Civil Rights Commission and Michigan Department of Civil Rights.

Sheila C. Cummings, House Democratic Legal Counsel, and Dianne Byrum, Lansing, for amici curiae Michigan House Democratic Caucus.

Sachs Waldman, P.C. (by Andrew Nickelhoff) John Wm. Mulcrone, Sheila C. Cummings, and Michael C. Murphy, Detroit, for amici curiae Michigan Democratic Party, Michigan House Democratic Caucus, Michigan Senate Democratic Caucus, and Michigan Legislative Black Caucus.

Lathrop & Gage L.C. (by Mark F. (Thor) Hearne, II, and Stephen K. Dexter), St. Louis, MO; Kansas City, MO, for amici curiae American Center for Voting Rights Legislative Fund and Kevin Fobbs.

Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith, P.C. (by Eric E. Doster), Lansing, for amici curiae Michigan Republican Party.

Kelley Cawthorne, P.L.L.C. (by Frank J. Kelley), Lansing, for amici curiae Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General Emeritus.

Melvin B. Hollowell, Jr., Yvonne White, Reginald M. Turner, Jr., Karen Gibbs, Kary L. Moss, Mildred Madison, Kerene Moore, David Lagstein, N. Charles Anderson, John Johnson, Ruben Acosta, and David Krichbaum, Detroit, Zenna Elhasan, Dearborn, for amici curiae National Association for the Advancement of Colored People-Detroit Branch, Michigan State Conference National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Bar Association, American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, League of Women Voters Detroit, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Project Vote, Association of Communities for Reform Now, Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development, Inc., City of Detroit, Detroit Urban League, and National Conference Community and Justice-Michigan.

Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, P.C. (by Harold D. Pope, Brian G. Shannon, and Erika Butler-Akinyemi), Southfield, and Ben Blustein, Jonah Goldman, Jon Greenbaum, Marcia Johnson-Blanco, and Daniel B. Kohrman, Washington, D.C., for amici curiae Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and American Association for Retired Persons.

Sachs Waldman, P.C. (by Mary Ellen Gurewitz), Detroit, for amici curiae various Michigan county clerks, city clerks, and township clerks.

Michael A. Cox, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, and Patrick O'Brien, Assistant Attorney General, Lansing, for amici curiae Michigan Department of State, Bureau of Elections.


Opinion

YOUNG, J.

Article 3, § 8 of the Michigan Constitution allows the Governor or either house of the Legislature to request the opinion of this Court "on important questions of law upon solemn occasions as to the constitutionality of legislation. . . ." We granted the House of Representatives' request to opine on the constitutionality of 2005 PA 71, MCL 168.523. Of concern to the House is the constitutionality of the requirement that voters either...

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