On May 27, the Sixth Circuit upheld the rules for membership on Michigan’s nonpartisan redistricting commission. Daunt v Benson, 20-1734. Here is the opinion. The three judges were Karen Nelson Moore and Ronald Gilman (Clinton appointees) and Chad Readler (a Trump appointee).

The Michigan membership rules bar people who have run for partisan office in the last six years, elected officials, party officers, paid consultants to political campaigns, lobbyists, employees of the legislature, and the parents, children, or spouses of such individuals. Persons not prohibited may apply to serve on the commission, and a random procedure is used to pick 4 Democrats, 4 Republicans, and 5 voters who are neither.

The lawsuit was filed by some politically active individuals who don’t qualify. They argued that the First Amendment does not allow the state to prohibit them from serving. The decision depends partly on U.S. Supreme Court opinions that upheld the Hatch Act, which barred federal employees from being active in partisan politics. The Hatch Act still exists, but congress has whittled it back in recent decades.

Although all three judges agree that the Michigan law is constitutional, Judge Readler wrote separately to say that the Sixth Circuit has been too inclined to strike down state election laws. His concurrence shows that he does not agree with Sixth Circuit ballot access opinions that have struck down various Ohio and Michigan ballot access restrictions.