Lawyers ask state Supreme Court to make Whitmer pay for defective lawsuit

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Michigan (Video screenshot)
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Michigan (Video screenshot)

Lawyers defending against a manufactured lawsuit filed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her attorney general, Dana Nessel, in a back-door attempt to destroy the state’s existing law protecting the unborn have asked the state Supreme Court to throw the case out and award them attorney’s fees from the governor.

The announcement comes from the Great Lakes Justice Center, where senior counsel David A. Kallman explained, “It is imperative for the court to emphatically reject the executive branch’s attempt to short-circuit the proper legal processes to change laws.”

He continued, “If not, the court will open the floodgates to a litany of challenges of virtually any statute by any future governor who simply disagrees with a duly enacted law. The Supreme Court must immediately stop this political tactic and abuse of executive power under the guise of litigation, regardless of the alleged constitutional right at stake. The governor must not be allowed to unilaterally request an amendment to the Constitution through the subterfuge of a fake and hypothetical lawsuit.”

Whitmer and Nessel recently sued 13 county prosecutors in counties where there are abortion businesses operating.

The action is an attempt to challenge Michigan’s 91-year-old statute that protects unborn life, the GLJC said. It would become effective should the U.S. Supreme Court throw out Roe v. Wade this year, as many expect.

So the center has filed motions and a brief in the Michigan Supreme Court requesting the dismissal.

It also asks the court to find the governor’s maneuver “vexatious and frivolous” and award legal fees to the defendants.

The center explained, “Rather than seeking to change a statute through the typical legislative or ballot means, the governor asks the court to nullify the statute and amend the constitution at her sole request.”

It continued, “Nothing in the Michigan Constitution gives her this authority. She improperly calls for her lawsuit to be used as a vehicle to establish a new constitutional right to abortion under Michigan’s Constitution. She bases her entire lawsuit upon a series of hypotheticals. According to her pleadings, the United States Supreme Court may hypothetically partially or fully strike down Roe v Wade; the Michigan Constitution may hypothetically contain a hidden right to abortion; certain prosecutors in Michigan may hypothetically charge individuals under MCL 750.14; and those criminal charges may hypothetically violate plaintiff’s newly claimed unfettered constitutional right to abortion at any time up to the point of birth.”

The center, however, pointed out, “The problem is not one of these hypothetical events has occurred, and no one knows if any of them will ever occur.”

Stephen P. Kallman, also a counsel for the center, explained, “We call on the Supreme Court to reject these new tactics. Article V, Section 8 of the Constitution is limited to enforcing the law as it currently stands. It cannot be transformed into a vehicle to change, amend, or repeal any law with which a governor disagrees. Gov. Whitmer should not be wasting her time and taxpayer dollars to bring such irresponsible and meritless lawsuits.”

WND reported when the dispute arose that prosecutors named in the lawsuit were gearing up to fight it.

It’s that the governor wants to strike down the existing state abortion ban “by simply suing the state over the dispute and then having pro-abortion lawyers on both sides of the case.”

One of the prosecutor defendants, Christopher Becker, said, “I am offended by yet another attempt by Governor Whitmer to usurp the normal legislative process. If she wants to change a law, introduce a bill, and convince the people that it is in their best interests to enact it. Filing suit and looking for the Supreme Court to do it, is not the right way.”

WND reported it is one of the ways abortion promoters are working to try to keep their industry alive should the Supreme Court reverse Roe.

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This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

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