The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), or Proposal 2 (Michigan 06–2), was a ballot initiative in the U.S. state of Michigan that passed into Michigan Constitutional law by a 58% to 42% margin on November 7, 2006, according to results officially certified by the Michigan Secretary of State. By Michigan law, the Proposal became law on December 22, 2006. MCRI was a citizen initiative aimed at banning consideration of race, color, sex, or religion in admission to colleges, jobs, and other publicly funded institutions – effectively prohibiting some affirmative action by public institutions based on those factors. The Proposal's constitutionality was challenged in federal court, but its constitutionality was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Summary of Court challenges On 21 March 2008, Judge David M. Lawson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan dismissed a case filed by plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of Proposal 2. Judge Lawson held that Proposal 2 does not violate the United States Constitution.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit overturned MCRI on July 1, 2011. Judges R. Guy Cole Jr. and Martha Craig Daughtrey said that "Proposal 2 reorders the political process in Michigan to place special burdens on minority interests." Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said he would appeal the court ruling.
Bill Schuette, Attorney General for the State of Michigan announced his appeal of the Sixth Circuit's decision on July 28, 2011. The MCRI stood in effect until this appeal was complete.
On November 16, 2012, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, upheld the earlier ruling that the MCRI was unconstitutional. Schuette then announced his intention to appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action on March 25, 2013. The Court heard arguments in the case on October 15, 2013, and the Court ruled on April 22, 2014 "that there is no authority ... for the judiciary to set aside Michigan laws that commit to the voters the determination whether racial preferences may be considered in governmental decisions, in particular with respect to school decisions." Thereby upholding the Constitutionality of the amendment.
Text of the Amendment The ballot initiative amended the Michigan Constitution to include a new section (Section 26 of Article I):
Background The subject of the proposal has been hotly debated, with the very definition of what it encompasses at the center of the controversy. Proponents argue that it bans programs in public hiring, public employment, and public education that "give preferential treatment to" or "discriminate against" individuals on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, or national origin. Opponents argue that Proposal 2 bans all affirmative action programs in the operation of public employment, education, or contracting.
Proponents cite the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the "Equal Protection" clause of the 14th Amendment that forbids the United States or any state from denying "equal protection of the law" to any citizen as models for the proposal. It is a near copy of similar initiatives passed in California (Proposition 209) and Washington (Initiative 200).
In 2004, when the first attempt was made to place the measure on the ballot, Gregory Creswell was MCRI spokesperson, volunteer coordinator, and an organizer.The program begins at 3:38 . A promotional video plays first. The segment devoted to Gregory Creswell starts at 20:03 In a pre-kick-off announcement, he articulated some reasons he was working for the amendment: "I believe it is wrong for the government and politicians to dictate to an employer who they must or must not hire, just as I believe Jim Crow is immoral and just as I believe apartheid in South Africa was immoral," said Creswell.* This reference includes a link to search results of the Archives of the Detroit News. Search results contain summaries of articles which may contain the referenced information. Otherwise the full articles are available for purchase at a modest price. Because of the length of the URL, the link may not work properly. If this happens start at "this URL" and select the same year of publication as the reference indicates, and place the referenced title in the "Search for:" box.
At the petition kick-off meeting affirmative action advocate Rev. Horace Sheffield III clashed with Creswell after being denied entry to the event. This reference includes a link to search results of the Archives of the Detroit News. Search results contain summaries of articles which may contain the referenced information. Otherwise the full articles are available for purchase at a modest price. Because of the length of the URL, the link may not work properly. If this happens start at "this URL" and select the same year of publication as the reference indicates, and place the referenced title in the "Search for:" box. Creswell's rivalry with Sheffield dated back to 2000 when Creswell criticized a protest outside the Detroit Police headquarters, following a couple shootings of suspects by police.* This reference includes a link to search results of the Archives of the Detroit News. Search results contain summaries of articles which may contain the referenced information. Otherwise the full articles are available for purchase at a modest price. Because of the length of the URL, the link may not work properly. If this happens start at "this URL" and select the same year of publication as the reference indicates, and place the referenced title in the "Search for:" box.
After some early court challenges, a state appeals court permitted MCRI petitioners to continue gathering signatures, but the effort was postponed till the 2006 cycle due to time constraints. * This reference includes a link to search results of the Archives of the Detroit News. Search results contain summaries of articles which may contain the referenced information. Otherwise the full articles are available for purchase at a modest price. Because of the length of the URL, the link may not work properly. If this happens start at "this URL" and select the same year of publication as the reference indicates, and place the referenced title in the "Search for:" box.
During the early debate about the proposal shortly following the collection of signatures (508,282 submitted January 6, 2005), the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, a governmental body charged with investigating civil rights violations in the state of Michigan, concluded an investigation of MCRI and asserted that supporters of the MCRI had committed widespread and systematic racially targeted fraud in their petition campaign to secure ballot access.Bernstein, Mark. Mohammed Abdrabboh and George Wirth.Michigan Civil Rights Commission June 7, 2006 memo. "michigan.gov" (website). The proponents of the initiative issued a multi-page refutation of the report, including a notation that it was never signed by the commission and alleging misconduct by the Commission itself.Michigan Civil Rights Initiative Committee. Report on Abuse of Power by Michigan Civil Rights Commission memo. "michigancivilrights.org" (website).
In September 2006, after opponents filed a federal lawsuit against the MCRI alleging fraud in the collection of petition signatures, a federal judge in Detroit found that some voter fraud had in fact taken place but denied an injunction to have the initiative barred.United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.Case No. 05-2258, Kilpatrick et al. vs. Land et al.. "bamn.com" (website). The above article is a broken link. The content is available in another format. The hypertext title "Michigan Civil Rights Commission's Findings of MCRI Fraud" on this page links to the document here:
First federal lawsuit against MCRI Oral arguments in a federal lawsuit charging MCRI and the State of Michigan with violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were heard on August 17, 2006, with attorneys presenting their closing arguments on the morning of August 18, 2006. The case was heard by U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Tarnow, who promised to rule on the matter by September 8, 2006, to give officials enough time to print up the ballot. During the first day of the hearing, hundreds of protesters picketed outside the courthouse chanting among other things, "Racist fraud, hell no! MCRI has got to go!" The lawsuit was filed by Operation King's Dream, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Detroit City Council, American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, Keep the Vote No Takeover, AFSCME Locals 207, 312, and 2920, and UAW 2200 as well as several individual voters. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm submitted an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs.
On August 29, 2006, the case was decided with Judge Tarnow, a Democratic judicial appointee, refusing to remove the initiative from the ballot. However, Judge Tarnow declared that "MCRI engaged in systematic voter fraud by telling voters that were signing a petition supporting affirmative action." However, because the case was not decided on these grounds, this statement is legally characterized as "dicta"—judicial commentary that is not relevant to the outcome of a case. Tarnow also found the testimony of Jennifer Gratz (MCRI's executive director) in the court to be evasive and misleading. His stated reason for refusing an injunction to remove the MCRI from the ballot was the MCRI "targeted all Michigan voters for deception without regard to race." He ruled that the Voting Rights Act was not violated because it "is not a general anti-voter fraud statute, but rather prohibits practices which result in unequal access to the political process because of race."
Luke Massie, national co-chair of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights & Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) announced that the plaintiffs would appeal Tarnow's decision to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, saying "It makes no sense to conclude there was fraud and allow the vote to go forward." The 6th Circuit rejected the appeal in mid-September.
Voting and poll results On November 27, 2006, Proposal 2 was certified officially by the Michigan Secretary of State to have passed by a margin of 58% to 42% (2,141,010 "Yes" votes to 1,555,691 "No" votes).Land, Terri Lynn.Election Results – General Election – November 07, 2006, State Proposal-06-2: Constitutional Amendment: Ban Affirmative Action Programs . "michigan.gov" (website). The last reported poll of October 15, by The Detroit News, showed MCRI to have up to a 50–41% lead. In another Free Press—Local 4 Michigan poll conducted by Selzer & Co. Inc. of Des Moines between October 8 to October 11 of 643 likely voters, it was shown that 41% were in favor of the MCRI, while 44% opposed the measure, and 15% of the voter poll were undecided. The poll had a margin of error of 3.9% making the poll a statistical dead-heat. Another poll, from mid-September 2006, showed MCRI was up 48–37 with 15% undecided, with the pollster admitting that his previous polls had not used the exact language of the proposal until the September poll. The entire polling process highlighted an ongoing debate about the scientific value of modern phone polling on questions of race or controversial social issues where the polled members of the public may be "embarrassed" by social desirability bias to give a truthful response about their intended vote for fear that the interviewer will judge them.
Board of Canvassers meeting