Court Ruling Allows Michigan Anti-Affirmative Action Initiative to Appear on 2006 Ballot
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 11/1/2005
The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the Board of State Canvassers must certify affirmative action opponent Ward Connerly's Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI) signatures, so that the initiative can be placed on the 2006 general election ballot.The State Board of Canvassers had deadlocked (2-2) July 19 in its consideration of certification of MCRI. MCRI would end equal opportunity and state affirmative action programs in higher education, employment, and contracting in Michigan.
"We are deeply disappointed that the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled to allow the deceptive so-called Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI) to be placed on the 2006 ballot," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
Henderson said that the ballot initiative would have serious consequences for the state, "Ward Connerly's deliberately deceptive ballot initiative would effectively roll back the promise of equal opportunity for women and minorities in Michigan. Further, it is an attempt to subvert the 2003 Supreme Court decision (Grutter v. Bollinger) to uphold equal opportunity across the country," Henderson said.
"We will work with our allies in Michigan and across the country to redouble our efforts to fight Connerly and his tricks. We are confident that Michigan voters will see through Connerly's tricks and not vote to alter the Michigan constitution on the whim of a California businessman who doesn't even call Michigan his home," Henderson said, in a reference to the Halloween timing of the decision.
Connerly is best known as the businessman and former University of California regent who successfully led anti-affirmative action ballot initiatives in California (1996) and Washington (1998). Connerly and anti-affirmative action proponents were galvanized by the Grutter decision, which upheld the consideration of race as one of many factors in higher education admissions, and switched their focus to Michigan.
Connerly initially aimed to qualify the initiative for the November 2004 ballot. However, several months before the election, a Michigan judge held that the anti-affirmative action initiative was "blatantly in direct conflict" with the Michigan Constitution and did not fully inform voters of its effect. In the wake of legal challenges resulting in a failure to garner the requisite number of signatures, Connerly postponed his 2004 petition drive, vowing to try again for the 2006 ballot.
One United Michigan (www.oneunitedmichigan.org), a diverse coalition of mainstream Michigan organizations representing women's groups, educators, business groups, religious organizations, racial and ethnic minority groups, and labor, has developed a public education campaign to educate voters on the benefits of affirmative action and equal opportunity programs, and the potential consequences of Connerly's initiative.
