CROWDED CLOWN CAR

If it seems like the same cast of Republican characters, several of which are from Oakland County, show up on the off-the-wall goings on in Lansing, it’s not your imagination. Now comes two state Reps. from Oakland, Matt Maddock from Milford and Josh Schriver from Oxford, along with six other state House members, to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge of voter-approved ballot proposals that created the citizen-led redistricting commission (2018) and a separate one (2022) allowing no-reason absentee voting, early voting and same-day registration. Both were passed overwhelmingly by voters. The pack of House members is being joined by two Republican state Senators, one of which is James Runestad from White Lake who happens to be the recently installed head of the Republican state party. The gaggle of lawmakers first filed this action in U.S. District Court in late 2023 where it was turned down. A U.S. Court of Appeals judge late last year rejected the group’s appeal, ruling that the individuals filing suit had no standing to bring the federal court action when the lawsuit should have been filed as representatives of the legislature as a body.