Michigan's new emergency-manager law is unconstitutional because it allows unelected officials to rule by decree over municipal governments and school boards, according to a lawsuit seeking to overturn the statute, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Union officials and school board and council members in cities including Benton Harbor and Flint claim the law violates citizens' due process rights under the U.S. Constitution. The law, passed in December after voters rejected an earlier emergency-manager measure in November 2012, took effect yesterday. The complaint, filed yesterday in federal court in Detroit, names Governor Rick Snyder and Treasurer Andy Dillon as defendants and seeks to overturn the statute. The plaintiffs asked the court to immediately bar emergency managers from exercising authority and to void any consent agreements established under the statute.
