On August 2, the Mayor of Warren, Michigan, James Fouts, filed a federal lawsuit to be allowed to run for re-election. Fouts v The Warren City Council, e.d., 2:23cv-11868.

He is serving his fourth term. Until 2020, Warren allowed elected city officials to serve five terms. In 2020, the voters amended the law to set the limit at three terms. But the 2020 amendment was silent about retroactive service. Typically when term limits are put in place, or amended for a shorter number of terms, terms served before the law was changed are not counted. But the Michigan Court of Appeals construed the law to bar Fouts.

The first round is August 8, so if Fouts win his lawsuit, he is asking that the August 8 election not count, and that a new first round be held, perhaps in late September. Here is the Complaint. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news. Warren is the third most populous city in Michigan.

Here is his commentary.

It is certainly anyone’s right to be opposed to the existence and mission of No Labels, but commentary like this, in my opinion, does not lend credence to the anti-Trump movement.

The Brennan Center has this compilation of state court lawsuits which challenge redistricting plans for federal and state office as unconstitutional gerrymanders. The list includes all lawsuits filed against plans passed since the 2020 census. The list shows which cases are already settled and which ones are still active.

These lawsuits are separate from lawsuits that attack redistricting plans based on the Voting Rights Act.