Daunt v. Benson

Case Information

A federal court challenge to the composition of Michigan’s new independent commission, based on a First Amendment challenge to the conflict of interest provisions excluding individuals from the commission because of specific past political activity.

On 11/25/19, the trial court declined to grant a preliminary injunction; on 4/15/20, the 6th Circuit affirmed. On 7/6/20, the trial court dismissed all claims; the case is back up on appeal.

History

Case filings, starting with most recent court

		Name	Last Modified
		Plaintiffs' brief	Nov 12, 2020
		Initiative proponents' brief	Dec 14, 2020

		Name	Last Modified
		Secretary of State's motion to dismiss	Sep 19, 2019
		Initiative proponents' motion to dismiss	Sep 19, 2019
		Daunt plaintiffs' response	Oct 3, 2019
		Michigan Republican Party plaintiffs' response	Oct 3, 2019
		Secretary of State's reply	Oct 10, 2019
		Initiative proponents' reply	Oct 10, 2019
		Opinion dismissing claims	Jul 6, 2020
		Daunt plaintiffs' notice of appeal	Aug 3, 2020

		Name	Last Modified
		Michigan Republican Party plaintiffs' brief	Dec 24, 2019
		Daunt plaintiffs' brief	Jan 2, 2020
		Initiative proponents' brief	Feb 3, 2020
		Secretary of State's brief	Feb 3, 2020
		Amicus brief of Brennan Center	Feb 14, 2020
		Amicus brief of Common Cause et al.	Feb 10, 2020
		Amicus brief of League of Women Voters of Mich.	Feb 7, 2020
		Daunt plaintiffs' reply	Feb 13, 2020
		Opinion affirming trial court	Apr 15, 2020
		Daunt plaintiffs' petition for rehearing en banc	May 13, 2020
		Mich. Republican Party plaintiffs' petition for rehearing en banc	May 13, 2020
		Secretary of State's response	May 29, 2020
		Initiative proponents' response	May 29, 2020
		Order denying rehearing en banc	Jun 19, 2020

		Name	Last Modified
		Complaint	Jul 30, 2019
		Order consolidating case with Michigan Republican Party v. Benson	Sep 11, 2019
		Motion for preliminary injunction (incl. exhs.)	Jul 30, 2019
		Secretary of State's opposition to motion for preliminary injunction (incl. exh.)	Sep 19, 2019
		Initiative proponents' opposition to motion for preliminary injunction	Sep 19, 2019
		Daunt plaintiffs' reply	Oct 3, 2019
		Mich. Republican Party plaintiffs' reply	Oct 3, 2019
		Order denying prelim. injunction	Nov 25, 2019
		Daunt plaintiffs' notice of appeal	Nov 26, 2019
		Michigan Republican Party plaintiffs' notice of appeal	Dec 5, 2019

Additional Cases

Michigan Republican Party v. Benson

PENDING - Federal court challenge to exclusions from independent commission based on political activity

Cycle 2020

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