Members of the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission voted to give all 13 individuals on the panel a 7% raise, citing inflation concerns.
The group, which draws the state’s political boundaries for the next decade, was enacted by voters of the state in 2018.
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The Michigan Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in a lawsuit between three news agencies and the Michigan Independent Citizen’s Redistricting Commission (MICRC). Arguments will be held Dec. 15 at 9:30 a.m.
The lawsuit follows an Oct. 27 MICRC closed-door meeting to discuss two legal memos despite a Constitutional mandate the committee “shall conduct all of its business at open meetings.”
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The nonprofit Voters Not Politicians (VNP) has stridently criticized the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) for hiring a GOP-aligned law firm, but VNP’s own leftist agenda and political ties are getting little media attention.
The Lansing-based “nonpartisan” organization spearheaded the Proposal 2 referendum which created the MICRC to oversee legislative and congressional redistricting free of gerrymandering.
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Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman urged Michigan’s independent redistricting committee to use geographical boundaries instead of racial, ethnic, or religious groups to determine the state’s new voting boundaries.
Markman took to the Wall Street Journal opinion page June 25 to air his concerns.
Markman, who retired from the Michigan Supreme Court in 2020, supports drawing boundaries via neighborhoods, instead of “communities of interest,” such as shared concerns for which a University of Michigan report advocated.
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