FAIR Maps: Supreme Court Blasts Shameful, Secretive Commission
Court Rebukes Redistricting Commission for Brazenly Hiding Memos, Holding Secret Session
LANSING, MI, December 20, 2021 – FAIR Maps Executive Director Tony Daunt today provided the following statement after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled the Redistricting Commission must come clean about secret memos and meetings discussing the Voting Rights Act:
“The Redistricting Commission has worked for months to keep the public in the dark, but the Supreme Court put an end to their shameful secrecy. Today’s ruling is a victory for transparency and for the Constitution. Voters were promised full transparency in this process and the Commission – including all four Democratic members – has repeatedly schemed to deny them. They didn’t get away with it.
“Michiganders should be grateful for the coalition of media outlets that went to bat for the Constitution and for their readers’ right to know.”
The Commission voted earlier this month to hide public memos and transcripts from public review, in gross violation of the state’s constitution.
A shameful majority of commissioners, including Cynthia Orton, M.C. Rothhorn, Brittni Kellom, Janice Vallette, Richard Weiss, Dustin Witjes, and Juanita Curry, voted to violate constitutional transparency requirements related to their handling of minority communities and the federal Voting Rights Act.
Voters in Detroit and other communities have blasted the Commission for its decision to disenfranchise minority communities to gerrymander the maps.
FAIR Maps participates in every aspect of Michigan’s redistricting process to achieve FAIR – Fair and Independent Redistricting – plans that appropriately reflect the diversity of Michigan’s population and the communities where they live.
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