The Michigan Supreme Court will decide the fate of a referendum on the state’s emergency manager law after spending more than an hour and half listening to arguments. The case also brought a few hundred demonstrators to Lansing.
Busloads of demonstrators showed up to rally outside the Michigan Hall of Justice.
Opponents of the referendum say it should not go on the ballot because of a technical mistake on the petitions. The ballot campaign says there was no mistake, and regardless, that’s not enough to deny the public a chance to vote on the question.
Oten Wyatt of Southfield was one of the protesters. He says the will of more than 200 thousand people who signed petitions should not be ignored.
“I think this should be put on the ballot," he says. "It should have been put on the ballot. We shouldn’t even be here. But we are here.”
There is some argument over whether a court can order a state elections board to put the question on the ballot. The referendum campaign says a loss before the Michigan Supreme Court could put the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.