{"id":12924,"date":"2025-12-17T17:02:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T17:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/?p=12924"},"modified":"2025-12-17T17:02:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T17:02:55","slug":"michigan-supreme-court-decision-in-mirc-v-whitmer-threatens-the-rights-of-all-michiganders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/michigan-supreme-court-decision-in-mirc-v-whitmer-threatens-the-rights-of-all-michiganders\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Supreme Court Decision in MIRC v Whitmer Threatens the Rights of All Michiganders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Ruling did not reach merits of case brought for worker and immigrant justice; Onus now on governor and legislature to act<\/em><\/p>\n

DETROIT, December 12, 2025: A 4-3 majority of the Michigan Supreme Court authorized the state to violate the rights of Michiganders with impunity.<\/p>\n

The case before the Court was a challenge brought by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center to the state\u2019s continued denial of workers\u2019 compensation wages to undocumented workers who suffer serious injuries at work. This practice violates Michigan Supreme Court precedent and due process. The court did not reach the merits of MIRC\u2019s legal argument. Rather, it wrote that it is \u201cnot persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.\u201d The ruling not only matters for the safety and health of immigrant workers in Michigan, but has much broader implications for any Michigander seeking justice for illegal conduct by the state.<\/p>\n

As Justice Thomas, joined by Chief Justice Cavanaugh, wrote in her dissent today: \u201cThis ruling ignores the language of the statute and more than 100 years of sovereign-immunity law. It also risks placing formalism above the rights and freedoms enshrined in our federal and state Constitutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

MIRC, and its counsel organizations FarmSTAND and the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, issued the following joint statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a sad day for the law in Michigan. The Michigan Supreme Court\u2019s 4-3 ruling today was not on the merits of whether the state is legally obligated to include all workers \u2013 regardless of immigration status \u2013 in workers\u2019 compensation. But the decision undermines all Michganders\u2019 rights \u2013 letting stand a ruling that because the Governor violated the Constitution in the past she can continue to do so in the future. It also leaves the state legislature and governor with the obligation to determine whether they are going to comply with the law and provide all workers\u2019 compensation for on-the-job injuries, or continue to allow undocumented workers serving Michigan businesses to be scapegoated. If the courts won\u2019t compel what is right, MIRC, the communities it serves, and all residents are at the mercy of those in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) is a statewide legal resource center for Michigan\u2019s immigrant communities that works to build a thriving Michigan where immigrant communities experience equity and belonging. MIRC’s work is rooted in three pillars: direct legal services, systemic advocacy, and community engagement and education. michiganimmigrant.org<\/p>\n

FarmSTAND is a legal advocacy organization devoted to bringing about a fair food system for all, where everyone is able to work in conditions that are dignified, fair, and healthy. farmstand.org<\/p>\n

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice (SLC) is a non-profit, public-interest law center providing legal advocacy, representation, education and technical support to low-wage workers and their communities. sugarlaw.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ruling did not reach merits of case brought for worker and immigrant justice; Onus now on governor and legislature to act DETROIT, December 12, 2025: A 4-3 majority of the Michigan Supreme Court authorized the state to violate the rights of Michiganders with impunity. The case before the Court was a challenge brought by the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[290],"class_list":["post-12924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-michigan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",700,468,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",700,468,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",700,468,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"large":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",640,428,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",700,468,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",700,468,false],"rtcl-gallery":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-700x462.jpg",700,462,true],"rtcl-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-320x240.jpg",320,240,true],"rtcl-gallery-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-150x105.jpg",150,105,true],"psacp-medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",500,334,false],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-45x45.jpg",45,45,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"LaPrensa Newspaper","author_link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/author\/laprensa\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Michigan<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Ruling did not reach merits of case brought for worker and immigrant justice; Onus now on governor and legislature to act DETROIT, December 12, 2025: A 4-3 majority of the Michigan Supreme Court authorized the state to violate the rights of Michiganders with impunity. The case before the Court was a challenge brought by the","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12925,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12924\/revisions\/12925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12924"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=12924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}