A federal judge yesterday allowed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Michigan's emergency manager law to move forward on grounds that it might discriminate on the basis of race, Reuters reported yesterday. U.S. District Court Judge George Caram Steeh dismissed other counts in the lawsuit against the law, which allows the state to intervene in fiscally troubled local governments. He ruled that the case brought by affected residents and a public labor union will proceed on an allegation that the 2012 law discriminates against African-American residents in cities run by an emergency manager. He added that allowing the lawsuit to move forward would not impact Detroit, which was assigned an emergency manager and is poised to exit the biggest-ever municipal bankruptcy by year-end after a federal bankruptcy judge confirmed the city's debt adjustment plan on Nov. 7. The lawsuit contended that 52 percent of Michigan's black population resides in cities with a state-appointed emergency manager or some other form of state oversight, while only about 2 percent of white residents are affected in the same way.
