Battle for Michigan Proposal 2: Part Five
IJJ Senior Fellow Victor Merina continues his ground-level reporting from Michigan on the battle around anti-affirmative action ballot Proposal 2. Read his fifth report below, download a copy of Ellis Cose' report on this matter. and join the fray in our online forum on Proposal 2. Just click on the "Killing Affirmative Action" box on the top right side of this page.
Report from Michigan: Part Five
By Victor Merina
With the vote-casting behind them, both sides in Michigan’s political fight over Proposal 2 are girding themselves for a legal battle that will likely determine if and when the anti-affirmative action measure takes effect.
Voters overwhelmingly approved Proposal 2 on Tuesday, and the measure’s provisions restricting affirmative action programs are scheduled to be enforced on Dec. 22, which is 45 days after Election Day.
However, a coalition of civil rights activists led by the group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) filed suit in U.S. District Court in Detroit to stop implementation of the constitutional amendment that would ban affirmative action in college admissions and government hiring and contracting.
University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman also vowed to fight the ban and said her university will consider “every legal option available” to further its goal of diversifying the campus.
“I am standing here today to tell you that I will not allow this university to go down the path of mediocrity,” she told a gathering of more than 500 students on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the backers of Proposal 2 have made it clear that they are ready for a court challenge. James Fett, legal counsel for the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which put Proposal 2 on the ballot, said on Election Night that the Pacific Legal Foundation is ready to step in and assist the group in any court battle.
Jennifer Gratz, executive director of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative and a plaintiff in an earlier lawsuit against the University of Michigan’s admission policies, also told the Detroit Free Press that it is time for the university and other affirmative action advocates "to stop trying to manipulate the outcomes and start treating people equally."
BAMN’s lawsuit argues Proposal 2 was placed on the ballot fraudulently and violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The suit names Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the regents and trustees of Michigan's public universities as defendants.
Voters statewide passed Proposal 2 with 58% of the vote. And a post-election analysis in the Detroit News shows that while minorities, union workers and Democrats voted against the ban, Republicans and Independents joined enough Democrats to propel the measure forward.
In the Detroit Free Press , a pollster said that Election Day surveys show that 34% of Democrats voted for Proposal 2, while 79% of Republicans did. Slightly more than half of Independents reportedly voted yes on Proposal 2.
While other analysts cautioned about reading too much into the Proposal 2 vote, one pollster said the surprising margin of victory for the ballot measure may be consistent "with an electorate – or at least white voters - who saw affirmative action as another sign that public policy just wasn’t fair to them and their families."
Proposal 2 failed only in Wayne, Washtenaw and Ingham counties – three counties that are home to the state’s biggest universities including the University of Michigan. The results also were close in Isabella and Kalamazoo counties, home to Central Michigan and Western Michigan universities.