In 2013, Michigan passed the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission Act (MIDCA) to ensure that indigent criminal defendants—that is, those who cannot afford to pay for counsel themselves—received constitutionally adequate counsel, paid for by the state. This case concerns whether and under what circumstances trial courts can, consistent with MIDCA, order indigent criminal defendants to pay the state back for their attorneys. The ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative, the ACLU of Michigan, and the Michigan State Planning Body filed an amicus brief in the Michigan Supreme Court arguing that MIDCA, properly construed, partially abrogated a different statute authorizing trial courts to assess attorney fees against indigent defendants and explaining that allowing such orders would undermine Michiganders’ right to counsel.

At the core of this case is the question of whether the government can extract and test our DNA without a warrant. The ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative and Project on Speech, Privacy, and Technology, together with the ACLU of Michigan, filed an amicus brief arguing that, since our DNA contains vast amounts of highly sensitive information about us, DNA testing and extraction constitute a search and therefore require a warrant under both the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article I, section 11 of the Michigan Constitution. If there were no warrant requirement, as the State urges, police would be able to arrest someone for one offense, even pretextually, and limitlessly test their DNA to investigate unrelated crimes. This would especially impact people from marginalized populations who are most likely to be subject to these police practices.

This case asks whether Michigan should adopt an approach to state constitutional interpretation that prioritizes Michigan sources and does not automatically require reference to parallel federal provisions or interpretations. The outcome of this case could have significant implications for the constitutional rights of Michiganders because an interpretation of the Michigan Constitution untethered from federal precedent provides an independent, and potentially more expansive, layer of security for individual rights.

The Seventh Amendment gives people a constitutional right to a jury trial in civil cases seeking money damages. The Supreme Court held that incarcerated plaintiffs have a right to a jury trial on questions of administrative exhaustion under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, when the facts underlying exhaustion would also decide the merits of their case.