Michigan Civil Rights Initiative - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), or Proposal 2 (Michigan 06-2), was a ballot initiative in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

that passed into Michigan Constitutional law by a 58% to 42% margin on November 7, 2006, according to results officially certified by the Michigan Secretary of State

Michigan Secretary of State

The Secretary of State is the third-ranking official in the U.S. state of Michigan and one of four great offices of state. As the name implies, the officeholder was originally responsible for much of state government, but now the duties are similar to those of the other 47 secretaries of states...

. By Michigan law, the Proposal became law on December 22, 2006. MCRI was legislation aimed at stopping the preferential treatment of minorities (by race, color, sex, or religion) in getting admission to colleges, jobs, and other publicly funded institutions. It was decried by some opponents as a repeal of the 1964 civil rights act.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Kentucky* Western District of Kentucky...

overturned MCRI on July 1, 2011. Judges R. Guy Cole Jr. and Martha Craig Daughtrey said that "Proposal 2 reorders the political process in Michigan to place special burdens on minority interests." Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said he will appeal the court ruling.

Actual Text of Amendment

The ballot initiative amended the Michigan Constitution

Michigan Constitution

The Constitution of the State of Michigan is the governing document of the U.S. state of Michigan. It describes the structure and function of the state's government....

to include a new section (Section 26 of Article I):

Civil Rights.

The University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

, Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...

, and any other public college or university, community college, or school district shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.

The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.

For the purposes of this section "state" includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the state itself, any city, county, any public college, university, or community college, school district, or other political subdivision or governmental instrumentality of or within the State of Michigan not included in sub-section 1.

This section does not prohibit action that must be taken to establish or maintain eligibility for any federal program, if ineligibility would result in a loss of federal funds to the state.

Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as prohibiting bona fide qualifications based on sex that are reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.

The remedies available for violations of this section shall be the same, regardless of the injured party's race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin, as are otherwise available for violations of Michigan anti-discrimination law.

This section shall be self-executing. If any part or parts of this section are found to be in conflict with the United States Constitution or federal law, the section shall be implemented to the maximum extent that the United States Constitution and federal law permit. Any provision held invalid shall be severable from the remaining portions of this section.

This section applies only to action taken after the effective date of this section.

This section does not invalidate any court order or consent decree that is in force as of the effective date of this section.

Proposal 2's constitutionality has been challenged in federal court. On 21 March 2008 however, Judge David M. Lawson

David M. Lawson

David M. Lawson is a United States federal judge.Born in Detroit, Michigan, Lawson graduated from Brother Rice High School in 1969. He received a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1973 and a J.D. from Wayne State University Law School in 1976. He was a law clerk for the Hon....

of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan is the Federal district court with jurisdiction over of the eastern portion of the state of Michigan. The Court is based in Detroit, with courthouses also located in Ann Arbor, Bay City, Flint, and Port Huron...

dismissed a case filed by plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of Proposal 2. Judge Lawson held that Proposal 2 does not violate the United States Constitution

United States Constitution

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...

.Opinion

Background

The most recent legal challenge - a request for a short-term delay by three Michigan universities and an advocacy group (BAMN, see below) - was denied review by the United States Supreme Court on January 19, 2007. The request was an appeal from a December 29, 2006 Court of Appeals ruling overturning a December 19, 2006 district court "settlement" agreement that would have allowed a six-month delay in enforcement only as it related to university admissions. The universities requested this delay because they had substantially completed the admissions determinations for the upcoming enrollment period, which would result in potential unfair treatment for students applying after the Initiative was passed.

The subject of the proposal has been hotly debated, with the very definition of what it encompasses at the center of the controversy. Proponents argue that it bans programs in public hiring, public employment, and public education that "give preferential treatment to" or "discriminate against" individuals on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, or national origin. Opponents argue that Proposal 2 bans all affirmative action

Affirmative action

Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...

programs in the operation of public employment, education, or contracting.

Proponents cite the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the "Equal Protection" clause of the 14th Amendment

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...

that forbids the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

or any state from denying "equal protection of the law" to any citizen as models for the proposal. It is a near copy of similar initiatives passed in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

(Proposition 209) and Washington (Initiative 200

Initiative 200

Initiative 200 was a Washington State initiative to the Legislature promoted by California affirmative-action opponent Ward Connerly and filed by Scott Smith and initiative entrepreneur Tim Eyman. It sought to prohibit racial and gender preferences by state and local government. It was on the...

).

During the early debate about the proposal shortly following the collection of signatures (508,282 submitted January 6, 2005), the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, a governmental body charged with investigating civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

violations in the state of Michigan, concluded an investigation of MCRI and asserted that supporters of the MCRI had committed widespread and systematic racially-targeted fraud in their petition campaign to secure ballot access. The proponents of the initiative issued a multi-page refutation of the report, including a notation that it was never signed by the Commission and alleging misconduct by the Commission itself.

In September 2006, after opponents filed a federal lawsuit against the MCRI alleging fraud in the collection of petition signatures, a federal judge in Detroit

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

found that some voter fraud had in fact taken place but denied an injunction to have the initiative barred.

First Federal Lawsuit Against MCRI

Oral arguments in a federal lawsuit charging MCRI and the State of Michigan with violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were heard on August 17, 2006 with attorneys presenting their closing arguments on the morning of August 18, 2006. The case was heard by U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Tarnow

Arthur Tarnow

Arthur J. Tarnow is a United States federal judge.Born in Detroit, Michigan, Tarnow received a B.A. from Wayne State University in 1963 and a J.D. from Wayne State University Law School in 1965. He was a law clerk to John Fitzgerald, Louis McGregor, and Timothy Quinn of the Michigan Court of...

, who promised to rule on the matter by September 8, 2006, to give officials enough time to print up the ballot. During the first day of the hearing, hundreds of protesters picketed outside the courthouse chanting among other things, "Racist fraud, hell no! MCRI has got to go!" The lawsuit was filed by Operation King's Dream, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

Kwame Kilpatrick

Kwame Malik Kilpatrick is a former mayor of Detroit, Michigan. Kilpatrick's mayorship was plagued by numerous scandals and rampant accusations of corruption, with the mayor eventually resigning after being charged with ten felony counts, including perjury and obstruction of justice...

, Detroit City Council, American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, Keep the Vote No Takover, AFSCME

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is the second- or third-largest labor union in the United States and one of the fastest-growing, representing over 1.4 million employees, primarily in local and state government and in the health care industry. AFSCME is part of the...

Locals 207, 312, and 2920, and UAW 2200 as well as several individual voters. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm

Jennifer Granholm

Jennifer Mulhern Granholm is a Canadian-born American politician, educator, and author who served as Attorney General and 47th Governor of the U.S. state of Michigan. A member of the Democratic Party, Granholm became Michigan's first female governor on January 1, 2003, when she succeeded Governor...

submitted an amicus brief

Amicus curiae

An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...

in support of the plaintiffs.

On August 29, 2006, the case was decided with Judge Tarnow, a Democratic judicial appointee, refusing to remove the initiative from the ballot. However, Judge Tarnow declared that "MCRI engaged in systematic voter fraud by telling voters that were signing a petition supporting affirmative action." However, because the case was not decided on these grounds, this statement is legally characterized as "dicta"--judicial commentary that is not relevant to the outcome of a case. Tarnow also found the testimony of Jennifer Gratz (MCRI's executive director) in the court to be evasive and misleading. His stated reason for refusing an injunction to remove the MCRI from the ballot was the MCRI "targeted all Michigan voters for deception without regard to race." He ruled that the Voting Rights Act was not violated because it "is not a general anti-voter fraud statute, but rather prohibits practices which result in unequal access to the political process because of race."

Luke Massie, national co-chair of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights & Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN

BAMN

BAMN stands for By Any Means Necessary, and its full name is the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary...

) announced that the plaintiffs would appeal Tarnow's decision to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, saying "It makes no sense to conclude there was fraud and allow the vote to go forward." The 6th Circuit rejected the appeal in mid-September.

Voting and Poll Results

On November 27, 2006, Proposal 2 was certified officially by the Michigan Secretary of State to have passed by a margin of 58% to 42% (2,141,010 "Yes" votes to 1,555,691 "No" votes). The last reported poll of October 15, by The Detroit News

The Detroit News

The Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival Free Press's building. The News absorbed the Detroit Tribune on February 1, 1919, the Detroit Journal on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960,...

, showed MCRI to have up to a 50-41 lead. In another Free Press

Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...

-Local 4

WDIV-TV

WDIV-TV, virtual channel 4, is an NBC-affiliated television station based in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned by Post-Newsweek Stations and is the flagship station and home base of the group with the offices of the group located alongside WDIV's studios; the "Local" branding now...

Michigan poll conducted by Selzer & Co. Inc. of Des Moines between October 8 to October 11 of 643 likely voters, it was shown that 41% were in favor of the MCRI, while 44% opposed the measure, and 15% of the voter poll were undecided. The poll had a margin of error of 3.9% making the poll a statistical dead-heat. Another poll, from mid-September 2006, showed MCRI was up 48-37 with 15% undecided, with the pollster admitting that his previous polls had not used the exact language of the proposal until the Sept. poll. The entire polling process highlighted an ongoing debate about the scientific value of modern phone polling on questions of race or controversial social issues where the polled members of the public may be "embarrassed" by social desirability bias

Social desirability bias

Social desirability bias is the tendency of respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others. It can take the form of over-reporting good behavior or under-reporting bad behavior. The tendency poses a serious problem with conducting research with self-reports,...

to give a truthful response about their intended vote for fear that they will be identified. The effect, which was predicted by several Michigan political consultants and even some pollsters themselves, represents a new concern in polling accuracy.

Board of Canvassers Meeting

In July 2005, the Michigan State Board of Canvassers declined to certify the MCRI proposal for Michigan's November 2006 ballot after hearing allegations that a significant number of signatures were obtained by telling supporters of affirmative action that the petition was likewise, in support of affirmative action. Counter-allegations were made by MCRI supporters that the allegations were fabricated and that the Board of Canvassers' decision-process itself was being improperly influenced by politics because Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer was "giving orders" to the two Democrat-appointed members of the Board, and backed up by the linked videotape shot by MCRI Treasurer and publisher Chetly Zarko. Despite the deadlocked vote by the Canvassers and their inability to certify the petition as a result, in October of the same year the Michigan Court of Appeals

Michigan Court of Appeals

The Michigan Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court of the state of Michigan. It was created by the Michigan Constitution of 1963, and commenced operations in 1965...

ordered the board to certify the petitions.

On December 14, 2005, in Lansing, Michigan

Lansing, Michigan

Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...

, while attempting to comply with that court order to certify the petitions, the board's four members were scheduled to make the final vote to certify the petitions for the November ballot. However, the meeting attended by hundreds of Detroit high school students. The crowd began to shout "No voter fraud," until they became so loud that the members left the room adjourning until 2pm. Chanting, "They say Jim Crow! We say hell no!," the emotion-surged crowd of students continued until a table was overturned in the commotion and the Lansing police came in to control the situation. Opponents of MCRI labeled their own conduct "civil disobedience" while proponents argued it crossed the line into outright violence and intentional intimidation. Video of the situation can be seen here.

After the protest, the election panel again failed to certify the petitions with a vote of 2-1, falling short of the required three votes. Republican board members Katherine Degrow and Lyn Banks voted in favor with Democrats Paul Mitchell voting no and Doyle O'Connor not voting.

The meeting received considerable media attention because of the protest. In the months following the controversial board meeting, both Mitchell and O'Connor resigned from the board and were fined $250 on contempt of court charges. O'Connor later testified against the MCRI at the August 17 federal court hearing, relaying how he had witnessed two African-American women circulating the anti-affirmative action petition in Detroit telling signers that it was in support of affirmative action. Proponents counter this claim by arguing that O'Connor, as a member of the Board of Canvassers, had failed to offer this testimony during Board meetings and waited until after the Board had decided and a lawsuit begun to relay his alleged testimony. Proponents suggest that O'Connor had a clear conflict of interest as a first-hand witness, and that he unethically failed to relay that information to the rest of the board and to MCRI officials and recuse himself from the decision-making process, and that his testimony as a result is simply not credible given that he waited so long to relay it.

"Preferential Treatment"

Proponents of the MCRI claim that the initiative will make illegal only those programs and policies, affecting university admissions, public employment, and contracting, that grant "preferential treatment" based on gender, race, or ethnicity. These claims were disputed by some opponents who cite California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

's Proposition 209, alleging that the language of that proposal outlawed "all affirmative action policies" and programs, and MCRI's language is nearly identical. Proponents counter this argument by arguing that while MCRI is nearly identical to California's amendment, neither MCRI or 209 outlawed "all" or any "affirmative action." They point to programs such as California's use of socio-economic indicators, outreach targeted at the 150 lowest scoring high schools, and traditional anti-discrimination enforcement as some among many race-neutral types of "affirmative action". On March 7, 2007, however, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, which had previously fought against Proposal 2, issued a report at the behest of the Governor, taking the position that Proposal 2 did not eliminate "all" affirmative action. In their summary of a 63 page report, Linda Parker, chair of the Commission, now agreed with Proposal 2 advocates, "With this Report, the Commission and Department confirm that Proposal 2 does not mean the end of equal opportunity or diversity in Michigan,". The Report explicitly cites the difference between "preferential treatment" and "affirmative action". Proponent of Proposal 2, Chetly Zarko, argued that this "flip-flop" by the Commission not only proved MCRI was correct all along about the legal issues and difference, but that it disproved the Commission's report alleging "fraud" in signature-collection since the Commission had previously alleged in its June 2006 fraud-allegation report that petitioners should have used the words "affirmative action" in their presentation,.

Post Election

Although the people of the state of Michigan banned all affirmative action programs based on race, nationality or gender by a significant majority, many groups have challenged the rule of this binding constitutional legislation.

On November 8, 2006, BAMN called a press conference announcing that they had launched a second lawsuit against Proposal 2 in conjunction with United for Equality and Affirmative Action and Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, claiming that it violates both the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the First Amendment as affirmed by the Supreme Court decision, Grutter v. Bollinger.

That same day, about 2,000 students gathered on the diag at the University of Michigan where University President Mary Sue Coleman gave a speech in which she promised U-M would go to court to defend its efforts to promote diversity, even though the people of Michigan had voted against affirmative action. Two weeks later, on November 21, Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell

George Heartwell

George Heartwell is the mayor of the city of Grand Rapids in the US state of Michigan. He was sworn in on January 1, 2004, and is currently serving his third term.-Career:...

said he was considering having the city file a federal lawsuit to overturn Proposal 2.

On December 19, U.S. District Court Judge David Lawson ruled that the state's three largest public universities—the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

, and Wayne State University

Wayne State University

Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...

--could delay implementation of Proposal until July 1, 2007. The universities had filed a lawsuit seeking the delay, charging fairness in admissions, in response to BAMN's lawsuit in which all three universities were named as defendants. The Center for Individual Rights

Center for Individual Rights

The Center for Individual Rights is a non-profit public interest law firm in the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the firm is "dedicated to the defense of individual liberties against the increasingly aggressive and unchecked authority of federal and state governments." The Center is...

has asked the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Judge Lawson's ruling and force the universities to adhere to the ban on affirmative action immediately.

On December 29, a 3-judge panel of the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals lifted Judge Lawson's injunction granting the 3 universities the July 1 implementation delay and ordered them to implement Proposal 2 immediately.

The city of Lansing has also filed a lawsuit to delay implementation of Prop 2 until July 2007. In Detroit, Matt Allen, a spokesman for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said the city illegally "will continue doing business as it has been" in spite of the state-wide ban on affirmative action.

Another lawsuit has been filed in federal court by the NAACP and the ACLU to block the ban on affirmative action.

On January 4, 2007, the Center for Individual Rights filed a lawsuit in Washtenaw Circuit Court, asking a judge to order the University of Michigan to immediately comply with Proposal 2, and abandon their affirmative action programs. The case was resolved on January 29 when Eric Russell, whom the Center for Individual Rights was representing voluntarily withdrew the lawsuit.

Jan. 9-10: BAMN held a press conference at Cass Tech High School in Detroit announcing that their appeal of the Federal Appeals Court decision overturning the delay of the ban on affirmative action. The next day, after placing holds on admissions, the University of Michigan announced that they will comply with the ban on affirmative action. Hours later, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens

John Paul Stevens

John Paul Stevens served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from December 19, 1975 until his retirement on June 29, 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the oldest member of the Court and the third-longest serving justice in the Court's history...

responded to BAMN's appeal of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision overturning the delay of Proposal 2's implementation and ordered all briefs due by January 17. U-M, Wayne State, MSU, and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm all filed briefs in support. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox

Mike Cox

Mike Cox was Michigan's 52nd Attorney General; the first Republican to hold that office since 1955. Cox took office in 2003 and won re-election in 2006. Michigan Governor Jennifer M...

urged Stevens to deny the injunction. On January 19, the Supreme Court denied BAMN's appeal without comment.

On Thursday, February 15, BAMN submitted 2,000 petitions to the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

demanding that there be no drop in minority enrollment. The following Tuesday, on February 20, the Michigan Student Assembly, the elected student government of U-M passed a resolution demanding that there be no drop in underrepresented minority student enrollment.

On Friday, July 1, 2011, the Federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held the amendment unconstitutional on the grounds that it “reorders the political process in Michigan to place special burdens on minority interests,” and thus violates the 14th Amendment.

On Thursday, November 3, 2011, the Equal Justice Society and more than a dozen other organizations announced that they had filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, urging the court to strike down Michigan’s anti-equality Proposal 2 as unconstitutional. The brief authors argue that Proposal 2 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution by creating procedural barriers for people of color.

Effects

On Friday, February 16, 2007, the University of Michigan released admissions data showing that, in a period that includes the time after Proposal 2 was implemented, minority admissions of primarily lower test scores declined 25% from the same period a year before. The data also show that in the period immediately before Proposal 2 was implemented, minority admissions was up 55% from the same period in 2006. A spokeswoman for the university, Julie Peterson, has said that since the numbers aren't final and since so many minority students applied early, the drop cannot necessarily be attributed to the amendment itself.

Notable Endorsers

Notable endorsers of the MCRI include:

Michigan Association of Scholars.
National Association of Scholars
National Association of Scholars
The National Association of Scholars is a non-profit organization in the United States that opposes multiculturalism and affirmative action and seeks to counter what it considers a "liberal bias" in academia...

.
Ward Connerly
Ward Connerly
Wardell Anthony "Ward" Connerly is an American political activist, businessman, and former University of California Regent . He is also the founder and the chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, a national non-profit organization in opposition to racial and gender preferences...

: California businessman who led similar campaign in California with Proposition 209.
Jennifer Gratz: executive director of the MCRI, plaintiff in the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

case Gratz v. Bollinger
Gratz v. Bollinger
Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 , was a United States Supreme Court case regarding the University of Michigan undergraduate affirmative action admissions policy...

.
Barbara Grutter: plaintiff in Grutter v. Bollinger
Grutter v. Bollinger
Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court upheld the affirmative action admissions policy of the University of Michigan Law School...

, co-chair of Towards a Fair Michigan.
Michigan Attorney General Michael (Mike) Cox.
Michigan State Representative Leon Drolet: steering committee chair of MCRI.
William B. Allen: Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

political science professor, co-chair of Towards a Fair Michigan.
Dr. Carl Cohen
Carl Cohen
Carl Cohen is Professor of Philosophy at the Residential College of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. He is co-author of "The Animal Rights Debate" , a point-counterpoint volume with Prof...

: University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

philosophy professor.
Chetly Zarko http://www.chetlyzarko.com: former Treasurer/Director of Media, MCRI, political consultant.
Doug Tietz: MCRI campaign manager, former U-M YAF Chair.
Greg Creswell: Libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

Candidate for Governor of Michigan.
Reverend Jerry Zandstra
Jerry Zandstra
Gerald "Jerry" Zandstra is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church and a conservative activist from Michigan. He is the head of the Pro-Life Federation of Michigan.-Politics:...

: Republican primary candidate for US Senate, Michigan.
Howard Schwartz: Professor, Oakland University.
Arthur White: Professor, Western Michigan University.
Council of Conservative Citizens
Council of Conservative Citizens
The Council of Conservative Citizens is an American political organization that supports a large variety of conservative and paleoconservative causes in addition to white nationalism, and white separatism...

.
Libertarian Party of Michigan
Libertarian Party of Michigan
The Libertarian Party of Michigan was founded in Taylor, Michigan in 1972 and remains on the ballot; as Michigan’s third oldest active political party...

.

Opposition

Notable opponents of the MCRI include:

One United Michigan
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...

(NAACP)
Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm
Jennifer Granholm
Jennifer Mulhern Granholm is a Canadian-born American politician, educator, and author who served as Attorney General and 47th Governor of the U.S. state of Michigan. A member of the Democratic Party, Granholm became Michigan's first female governor on January 1, 2003, when she succeeded Governor...
Former Michigan gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos
Dick DeVos
Dick DeVos is a businessman and Republican politician from Michigan. The son of billionaire Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, he served as CEO of the multi-level marketing consumer goods distribution company from 1993–2002...
Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
Kwame Kilpatrick
Kwame Malik Kilpatrick is a former mayor of Detroit, Michigan. Kilpatrick's mayorship was plagued by numerous scandals and rampant accusations of corruption, with the mayor eventually resigning after being charged with ten felony counts, including perjury and obstruction of justice...
By Any Means Necessary (BAMN
BAMN
BAMN stands for By Any Means Necessary, and its full name is the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary...

)
Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell
George Heartwell
George Heartwell is the mayor of the city of Grand Rapids in the US state of Michigan. He was sworn in on January 1, 2004, and is currently serving his third term.-Career:...
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...

and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
Association of Michigan Universities (AMU)
Michigan Civil Rights Commission
Al Sharpton
Al Sharpton
Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election...
Detroit City Council
American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC)
American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...

(ACLU)
Detroit Federation of Teachers
Arab American Institute
Arab American Institute
Founded in 1985, the Arab American Institute is a non-profit membership organization based in Washington D.C. that focuses on the issues and interests of Arab-Americans nationwide. James Zogby, brother of pollster John Zogby, is founder and president of the AAI....
Green Party of Michigan
Green Party of Michigan
The Green Party of Michigan is the state party organization for Michigan of the Green Party of the United States. The party has had ballot access in Michigan since November 2000...

(GPMI)
Socialist Party of Michigan
Socialist Party of Michigan
The Socialist Party of Michigan is the state chapter of the Socialist Party USA in the U.S. state of Michigan.-Formation:The Socialist Party of Michigan was the state affiliate of the Socialist Party of America , established in the summer of 1901...

(SPMI)