Eleven Republican state legislators have asked a federal district court judge in Michigan to declare that two amendments to the state constitution dealing with election procedures in federal elections are invalid and unenforceable because the legislature did not vote to approve their provisions prior to the referendums in which they were passed.
The question is whether the petition-ballot initiative procedure outlined by the Michigan Constitution violates the state legislators’ rights by usurping their legislative powers specified in the Elections Clause of Art. 1, Sec. 4 of the U.S. Constitution, because, as the complaint states, “the direct democracy process involves no involvement or approval by the state legislature.”
