Bill Laitner

Detroit Free Press

Last-ditch legal efforts to put a marijuana-legalization question in front of Michigan voters this fall ended Tuesday in a federal court in Flint.

U.S. District Judge Linda Parker denied a motion for a temporary restraining order that aimed to stop the printing of ballots while the case was argued about whether to allow what state officials call “stale” petition signatures.

“Basically, what this sums up is that our question is not going to be on the ballot in November,” said Sean Myers of Newport, near Monroe, one of two plaintiffs who sued the state last week in federal court.

The other plaintiff was U.S. Marine veteran and medical-marijuana user Dakota Blue Serna of Dimondale in Eaton County, Myers said. According to the lawsuit, the two signed the petition of the campaign group called MI Legalize, requesting that the marijuana question be on November ballots. But they did so outside the 180-day window required by state election policy, their lawsuit says.

The case asked that the time limit be immediately overturned and that clerks across Michigan be ordered to add the marijuana measure to ballots, which are being drawn up and printed this week.

"We were asking for truly extraordinary relief," admitted Jeff Frazier, one of two lawyers who filed the lawsuit.

"So, basically, the judge said she didn’t believe there was time to probe this issue with the requisite degree of exactitude in time to get ballots mailed overseas to military people this month," Frazier said.

Although MI Legalize submitted 354,000 signatures — well over the 252,000 required — the Michigan Court of Claims agreed with a State Board of Canvassers decision in June, deciding that “more than 200,000 were collected more than 180 days before the petition was submitted” to the Secretary of State — a violation of the state board's 180-day policy.

Frazier said that, despite Tuesday's reversal, he was buoyed by the words of the federal judge in Flint and the fact that she even granted a hearing to his side. The lawsuit's wording "prompted her to say she would love to get to the merits of this because, as she put it, 'This is a society shaper.'

"And in all of our previous maneuverings in state court, we never got a hearing," he said.

The MI Legalize group isn’t done, added its chairman, Lansing lawyer Jeff Hank.

“I’m taking our state case to the U.S. Supreme Court. That’s definitely happening next year," Hank said, although he conceded that "there's probably about a 6% chance they would hear this case."

Still, the group will continue seeking donations and aims to launch another petition drive although no date has been set, Hank said. He and others in the group have asserted that the 180-day window is a serious handicap to grassroots groups that depend on volunteers to collect signatures and can't afford to hire platoons of professional petition circulators.

The 180-day window was rushed by the Legislature into becoming state law on June 1 — the same day that MI Legalize turned in its truckload of signatures — although the limit does not apply retroactively to MI Legalize, state lawmakers acknowledged at the time. In a news release, Gov. Rick Snyder defended putting his signature on the bill that was almost universally criticized by Democrats.

"Establishing reasonable time limits on when signatures can be collected helps ensure the issues that make the ballot are the ones that matter most to Michiganders," Snyder said in the release.

Contact Bill Laitner: blaitner@freepress.com or 313-223-4485.