Michigan Supreme Court rejects Donna Brandenburg lawsuit seeking ballot spot
The Michigan Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit Tuesday filed by Republican gubernatorial candidate and Byron Center businesswoman Donna Brandenburg for a spot on the August primary ballot.
The court issued its order after the names of candidates for the upcoming were certified and sent out to county clerks last Friday to prepare ballots for printing.
Brandenburg was one of five GOP gubernatorial candidates whose nominating petitions to qualify for the ballot were riddled with fraudulent signatures, according to a review by the Bureau of Elections. The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked on whether to follow the bureau's recommendation and disqualify the candidates. The impasse left those candidates off the ballot.
In addition to Brandenburg, three of those candidates — former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, Oakland County businessman Perry Johnson and Grand Haven financial adviser Michael Markey — lost their legal bids in the state's courts challenging their disqualification.
More: Michigan Supreme Court denies James Craig, Perry Johnson and others spot on primary ballot
More: Procedural step squashed 5 Republican campaigns for Michigan's next governor
Johnson has since filed a federal lawsuit seeking a court order to suspend ballot printing until his name is included among the GOP gubernatorial candidates listed.
A Bureau of Elections review found that more than 11,000 or the nearly 18,000 signatures filed by Brandenburg were invalid. Brandenburg filed her lawsuit in the Michigan Supreme Court last Thursday, nearly a week after the board meeting disqualifying her and a day before the deadline to certify the names of candidates for the August primary.
Unlike the other Republican candidates who appealed lower court rulings to the Michigan Supreme Court, Brandenburg was the only one who filed her lawsuit directly with the high court.
In a blistering dissent attached to the court's order denying Brandenburg's request to place her name on the ballot, Justice David Viviano wrote that precedent required the court to provide specific legal reasons for denying Brandenburg the relief she requested.
"A court that shows so little respect for its own precedent can hardly expect it to be respected by others," he wrote. "The majority's decision to simply ignore our precedent is stunning."
In a statement concurring with the court's order, Justice Elizabeth Welch questioned whether the previously decided cases referenced by Viviano were rightly decided and decried court rules and other recent rulings she said have caused confusion over how disputes over candidates' nominating petitions should be handled by the courts.
Justice Richard Bernstein indicated that he would order oral argument in Brandenburg's case.
The five Republican candidates for governor that will be listed on the primary ballot are Norton Shores businesswoman Tudor Dixon, Ottawa County real estate agent Ryan Kelley, Farmington Hills pastor Ralph Rebandt, Bloomfield Hills businessman Kevin Rinke and Kalamazoo chiropractor Garrett Soldano.
Clara Hendrickson fact-checks Michigan issues and politics as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work at bit.ly/freepRFA. Contact her at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Court rejects lawsuit from Donna Brandenburg for ballot spot
