Michigan GOP looks to hit pause on Benson gerrymandering settlement

Attorneys representing Michigan GOP lawmakers are seeking to delay a pending settlement agreement in a lawsuit alleging Republican gerrymandering in several of the state’s congressional and legislative districts.

In a role reversal from last year’s Lame Duck legislative session, now it’s Republicans accusing Democrats of a “power grab.”

On Tuesday morning, lawyers for Republicans in League of Women Voters v. Benson argued in a filing that the move last week by new Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to settle the suit should be halted due to her “potential bias.”

Attorneys for the lawmakers, or “intervenors,” are asking to go through a “limited discovery period.” They want Benson’s office to produce communications between herself and plaintiffs, as well as attorney Mark Brewer — a former Michigan Democratic Party chair who filed the lawsuit — dating back to October 2017 in order to assess “Secretary Benson’s views regarding this lawsuit …”

Read more: https://www.michiganadvance.com/2019/01/22/michigan-gop-looks-to-hit-pause-on-benson-gerrymandering-settlement/