Updates About Supreme Court Rulings

Michigan’s Supreme Court denied the Attorney General’s appeal of former Governor Rick Snyder’s charges being dismissed in the Flint Water case.

The court was not convinced to re-examine the case and stood by their decision to dismiss Snyder’s charges. Snyder is only one of the seven cases that have been dismissed after the Attorney General’s appeal was denied. A single misdemeanor charge against former Flint Public Works Director, Howard Croft, remains under review in the court.

The Attorney General Flint Water Crisis prosecution team plans to release a full report on the legal situation and a summary of the prosecution in 2024.

On September 20, the Michigan Supreme Court declined to hear the Attorney General’s appeals to the Flint Water case, citing that they were not persuaded to hear the appeals which called for the Supreme Court to overturn the dismissal of the case from a lower court.

Back in January 2021, Jarrod Agen, Gerald Ambrose, Richard Baird, Darnell Earley, Nicolas Lyon, Nancy Peeler, Richard Snyder, and Eden Wells were charged with counts ranging from perjury, misconduct tin office, willful neglect of duty, to involuntary manslaughter. However, because of the one-man jury trial used by the Attorney General, these charges were dropped after the Supreme Court considered them unconstitutional three years ago.

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the “independent state legislature theory” in Moore v. Harper.

The case stems from North Carolina’s most-recently drawn congressional map, which was argued to be racially gerrymandered. The North Carolina Supreme Court had ruled that the map was in violation of the state’s constitution, but others argued that the independent state legislature theory allowed the map to be valid. This theory asserts that state legislatures have sole authority to establish federal election laws without review by courts or governors.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson issued a statement on the Supreme Court’s decision, stating it was a “victory for Michigan’s citizen-led and voter-enacted independent redistricting process”.