Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in the case over whether the size of wording on petitions should keep a proposed referendum on the state's 2011 emergency financial manager law off the November ballot. Michigan Supreme Court hears word-size dispute in emergency manager ballot case:
A union-led coalition that opposes the law gathered enough valid signatures to put the issue to voters. But a group started by current and retired business leaders challenged the petitions, arguing – among other things – that their headings in 14-point Calibri font were not printed in 14-point type.
In a packed courtroom with an estimated 145 onlookers, Chief Justice Robert Young began the oral arguments by noting it is rare for justices to hear cases in July.
"That alone should signify to all … how significant this case is," he said.
A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals last month begrudgingly ordered that the referendum go to voters – citing an earlier case giving the benefit of the doubt if petitions "substantially comply" with the law.
A 1954 law (amended in 1965) does not specify how type size is supposed to be measured or what font should be used, and justices may settle whether actual letters should be measured instead of the "printer's block" equivalent that includes rectangular space around the letters.
During arguments lasting a lengthy one hour and 40 minutes, John Pirich, an attorney for Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, argued in favor of measuring the letters themselves.
Young jumped in: "Yet what you are arguing is precisely the opposite of what I believe to be a fairly consistent hymn within printing literature."
Pirich said "we know what 14-point in 1954 looked like" and the wording at issue was too small. Young then noted that the Calibri font probably did not exist nearly 60 years ago.
"How do we determine what Microsoft or some other desktop printing program designates as 14-point is 14-point type face?" Young later asked an attorney for the secretary of state and Board of State Canvassers.
Herb Sanders, an attorney for Stand up For Democracy – which organized the ballot drive – tried to dispel the "myth" that the type size was not 14 points. He also said there is no evidence that any people who signed the petitions were unaware of what they were doing – regardless of whether the heading measured 14 points.
He warned the justices against "denying individuals their constitutional right to petition their government based on the width of a dime."
More than 100 activists gathered outside the Supreme Court during the arguments. Opponents of the law were bused in from Detroit and Flint.
If the referendum is certified, the law will be automatically suspended – affecting the status of four cities and three school districts now run by emergency managers.
Read the court brief (pdf).
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