Victory!

For over 50 years, Michigan’s Constitution has strictly prohibited public aid to and taxpayer funding of private and religious schools. However, in 2016 the legislature appropriated $2.5 million to “reimburse” private and parochial schools for complying with legal requirements that apply to all schools in Michigan. In 2017 the ACLU of Michigan formed a coalition with public school administrators, teachers, and parents to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the funding, arguing that the appropriation should be struck down because it violates the state constitutional requirement that reserves public education funding exclusively for public schools. In 2018 Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Diane Stephens ruled in our favor, declared the statute unconstitutional, and issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the state from funding private schools. But the state appealed, and the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed by a vote of 2-1. We then appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court, which affirmed the Court of Appeals ruling in 2020 by an equally divided vote. The case was then remanded to the Court of Claims for consideration of our additional arguments as to why some or all of the funding is unconstitutional. In February 2022 Judge Stephens entered a final judgment allowing some of the reimbursements but not others. Meanwhile, in September 2021 a new lawsuit was filed in federal court by right-wing groups, challenging the restrictions of Michigan’s Constitution as a violation of the United States Constitution, arguing that the restriction is motivated by anti-religious animus. In January 2022 we led the coalition of public school supporters in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in which we argued that Michigan’s restriction is constitutional because its purpose and effect is to reserve limited public funds for public schools, not to discriminate against religion. In September 2022 Judge Robert Jonker dismissed the federal lawsuit, but without reaching the merits; he ruled that because the suit was brought in the specific context of a dispute over state tax deductions, it should have been brought in state court. The plaintiffs appealed, and in March 2023 we filed another friend-of-the-court brief in the Sixth Circuit. (Council of Organizations & Others for Education About Parochiaid (CAP) v. State of Michigan; Hile v. State of Michigan; ACLU Attorney Dan Korobkin; co-counsel Jeffrey Donahue of White Schneider and Brandon Hubbard, Phillip DeRosier, and Ariana Pellegrino of Dickinson Wright.)

Sharee Miller, a prisoner at Huron Valley Women’s Prison, was fired from her job at the prison for seeking help for mentally ill women prisoners who were being abused and neglected by the guards. Ms. Miller’s job at the prison was to keep watch over prisoners who were at risk of suicide or self-harm. On multiple occasions she saw guards abuse mentally ill women by leaving them hogtied and naked for hours, depriving them of water, and refusing to advise medical authorities even when a prisoner was foaming at the mouth. Ms. Miller’s internal complaints within the prison were ignored, so she ultimately alerted outside organizations such as the Department of Justice and advocacy groups. When she did so, she was punished for violating “confidentiality” rules.

In 2015 the ACLU of Michigan filed a lawsuit to prevent the prison from punishing prisoners who report abuse and neglect. In March 2019 Judge Sean Cox denied the state’s motion for summary judgment and scheduled the case for trial. The Michigan Department of Corrections then agreed to settle the case by changing its policy to allow prisoners to report mistreatment to an outside government oversight agency or state-designated protection and advocacy organization. Ms. Miller was also reinstated to her position, compensated for her lost wages, and had her record cleared of having been terminated for violating prison rules.

(Miller v. Stewart; ACLU Attorney Dan Korobkin; Cooperating Attorneys Daniel Quick, Jerome Crawford, Chelsea Smialek, Kathleen Cieslik, Emily Burdick, Lina Irvine, and Alma Sobo of Dickinson Wright.) 

Homeowners in Detroit are experiencing a severe tax foreclosure crisis, with many losing their homes based on their inability to pay taxes that never should have been assessed in the first place. Even though taxes in Michigan must be based on the true cash value of a home, the City of Detroit failed to reduce the tax assessments to match plummeting property values following the Great Recession. Also, although homeowners who meet the federal poverty guidelines are excused from paying property taxes, Detroit’s process for obtaining the poverty exemption became so convoluted that few people who qualify could actually receive the benefit. These policies have a grossly disparate impact on African American homeowners, who are ten times more likely to lose their homes than non-African Americans. In 2016 the ACLU of Michigan, NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), and the Covington & Burling law firm filed a lawsuit asserting violations of the Fair Housing Act and due process. In July 2018 we reached a historic settlement agreement with Detroit that has the potential to save the homes of thousands of low-income residents. Under the terms of the settlement, homeowners who qualify for a poverty exemption can buy their homes back for $1000, and Detroit created a streamlined, user-friendly poverty exemption application process. Detroit also paid damages to the named plaintiffs and contributed $275,000 to a fund that will help low-income homeowners. In 2019 and 2020 we continued to work with the city and community partner organizations to make sure that the settlement is properly implemented through a three-year enforcement period. In July 2021 we joined LDF in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in a case raising similar claims in the Sixth Circuit, this time seeking damages on behalf of homeowners who had been harmed by the overassessments before new policies were put in place. In July 2022 the Sixth Circuit agreed with our position that the state’s process for addressing a retroactive problem with tax assessment notices had been so convoluted and dysfunctional that homeowners can seek relief in federal court. (MorningSide Community Organization v. Wayne County Treasurer; Howard v. City of Detroit; ACLU Attorneys Bonsitu Kitaba-Gaviglio and Dan Korobkin; co-counsel Coty Montag and Ajmel Quereshi of LDF, and Shankar Duraiswamy, Amia Trigg, Donald Ridings, Wesley Wintermyer, Sarah Tremont, and Jason Grimes of Covington & Burling.)

READ THE PLAINTIFFS' STORIES: FIXING DETROIT'S TAX FORECLOSURE CRISIS