The ACLU of Michigan has joined in the shameful effort to keep the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative off the ballot in the upcoming Michigan election. In an amicus court brief filed today, the ACLU threw its weight behind BAMN–the radical leftist organization that has pledged to defend affirmative action “By Any Means Necessary.” (You can read more about the group’s ongoing crusade here and here.) BAMN’s footsoldiers are trying to get Michigan’s courts to block the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative on the grounds that it is inherently deceptive–it fools people into thinking that it supports “civil rights,” while its real function is to end racial preferences (which BAMN sees as the cornerstone of the modern civil-rights movement).
In reality the MCRI’s ballot language couldn’t be clearer. It announces itself as a measure to amend the Michigan constitution to “prohibit the University of Michigan and other state universities, the state, and all other state entities from discriminating or granting preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.” By law, the supporters of the MCRI needed 317,757 signatures to get their measure on the ballot in the fall. They have already gathered more than 500,000 signatures. But BAMN–now joined by the ACLU–is pulling out all the stops to prevent this issue from being decided democratically. Supporters of racial preferences know that the voters aren’t on their side, so they’ve brought in an army of lawyers to try to impose their agenda through the courts. How novel.