LANSING — Today, House Republicans rushed through House Bill 6553 to allow the Legislature an absolute right to intervene in court proceedings, effectively undermining the power of the attorney general’s office and ignoring the will of the voters who elected Attorney General-elect Nessel last month. In response to its passage, state Rep. Robert Wittenberg (D-Huntington Woods) issued the following statement:
“This shameful act of self-service by Republicans undermines the very foundation of our democracy. By affording themselves the absolute right to intervene in any court case, at any stage of case proceedings, whenever they deem necessary, Republican legislators are attempting to usurp power from the attorney general — who is constitutionally and statutorily the top attorney and prosecutor in the state. This unprecedented action does nothing more than destabilize the same institutions that have held our state and nation together for more than two centuries.”