The Michigan Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on July 25 in the case on whether a referendum should remain on the ballot or not. See this story. The State Court of Appeals had put it on the ballot even though the font size of the petition was slightly too small. The State Court of Appeals used a substantial compliance standard. Proponents of the referendum do not concede that their petition’s font size was too small. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
That arguments will be heard on this is a bad sign. There are some on the MI supreme court that would hold that the font size issue has controlling merit or that some lower court should be allowed to think it does or whatever.
There’s no gray area on this case, it really is Hope for Democracy v. Democratic Experiment Over.
Without knowing more, optimism is warranted as Gov. Snyder vetoed a vote supression bill so it’s conceivable a majority of the court could find that voters can decide that they wish to decide the question of these routine state take-overs of local jurisdictions.
Good will distingush itself from awful on this vote.