Redistricting Committee Won’t Move to Dormancy, Attorneys Weigh Committees Options

The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission had a meeting Thursday where they discussed the possibility of the committee moving to Dormancy.

Attorneys told Commissioners they must stay active while litigation is pending. The committee currently has two active cases in the Western district, cases that could take months, if not years.

Attorneys today also contemplated what the commission can do if there are any future challenges to the new maps. Commissioner Rebecca Szetela says no decisions were made today.

“I think what our lawyers were trying to do was just propose some options for us on some possible ways we can proceed,” Szetela says.

The Redistricting Commission’s attorneys are undecided on the committees options. Some Commissioners believe the committee should be able to challenge future lawsuits using the Secretary of State or other counsel. While some attorneys believe that would be unconstitutional. If it is indeed unconstitutional, then they’ll have to redraw 13 new members for the Commission in order to challenge any future litigation of the new maps.

Commissioner Steven Lett says the report submitted by the attorneys today was just for informational purposes.

“We moved forward to another meeting that we’ll have probably sometime in July or August to discuss. That will give us time to review the memorandum they prepared which provided several different options. [We’ll] decide where to go from there,” Lett explains.

They hope to have a better understanding of what they can and can’t do when they meet again by the end of the summer.