Group Revives Effort to Overturn Emergency Manager Law in Court

Sugar Law Center director tells Detroit Today group hopes to force trial in the case

It’s been more than three years since lawmakers and Governor Rick Snyder approved a beefed-up emergency manager law for state takeovers of cities and school districts in financial distress. Efforts to overturn the referendum-proof law in court have gone nowhere.

But one group challenging the law is now asking a federal appeals court to order a trial in its case.

Detroit Today host Laura Weber Davis spoke with John Philo, director of the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice. He’s also one of the lead attorneys in the case.

He says a trial would unpack all of the faults and pitfalls in the law, including how it disproportionately impacts poor and minority communities.

“What it highlights is the emergency manager form of government has deep flaws that can’t be resolved without repeal of the law,” says Philo. “People have the right to know what’s been going on and who’s been running their cities. We deserve to know that.”

To hear more from Philo’s conversation on WDET’s Detroit Today, click on the player above.

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