|
UNITED STATES STUDENT ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION, as an organization and representative of its members, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FUND OF MICHIGAN, as an organization and representative of its members, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF MICHIGAN, as an organization and representative of its members, Plaintiffs-Appellees, MICHIGAN STATE CONFERENCE OF NAACP BRANCHES, Plaintiff, v. TERRI LYNN LAND, Michigan Secretary of State, and CHRISTOPHER M. THOMAS, Michigan Director of Elections, in their official capacities, Defendants-Appellants, FRANCES MCMULLAN, City Clerk for Ypsilanti, Michigan, Defendant. |
|
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit.
No. 08-14019—Stephen J. Murphy III, District Judge.
Decided and Filed: October 29, 2008
Before: MOORE and WHITE, Circuit Judges; VINSON, District Judge.
KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. Defendants-Appellants, Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land (“the Secretary”) and Director of Elections Christopher M. Thomas (“the Director”) (collectively, “defendants”), bring this emergency motion to stay a preliminary injunction that the district court issued in favor of plaintiffs-appellees, the United States Student Association Foundation, the ACLU Fund of Michigan, and the ACLU of Michigan (collectively, “plaintiffs”). This preliminary injunction orders defendants to refrain from rejecting a voter’s registration when that voter’s identification card (“voter ID card”) is returned to election officials as undeliverable and to reinstate the registration of all voters whose registrations have been rejected pursuant to this practice since January 1, 2006. We grant the defendants’ motion for expedited review and we DENY defendants’ motion for a stay, leaving in place the district court’s preliminary injunction. We direct the clerk to establish an expedited briefing schedule for the defendants’ appeal of the preliminary injunction ordered by the district court.