LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The attorney for two county prosecutors plans to file a response to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s motion to quash a subpoena asking her to testify at an August 17 hearing involving a temporary restraining order placed on county prosecutors to prevent them from prosecuting abortion providers in Michigan.
Attorney David Kallman, who represents the Jackson and Kent County prosecutors in this case, told Michigan News Source on Wednesday that Gov. Whitmer’s response is weak.
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“To summarize, she argues ‘I’m too busy,'” Kallman said. “Well, she’s not too busy to file a motion. She’s not too busy to hold press conferences. But she’s too busy to come to court to be questioned for an hour-and-a-half? What is she afraid of?”
Kallman’s impetus to serve the subpoena stems from Whitmer listing herself as the sole plaintiff in the original filing. The 11 page motion filed by Whitmer late Tuesday argues that although she is not “personally a party to this case – she is plaintiff only in her official capacity and only on behalf of the state of Michigan.”
Her motion states, in part, “It is apparent that the defendants’ subpoena of the Governor is not necessary (or perhaps even meant) to aid this Court in resolving the questions before it, and would only serve to detract from the Governor’s performance of her official duties, needlessly complicate the proceedings before this court, and improperly raise the level of spectacle surrounding the case.”
Michigan has been drifting from one court proceeding to the next since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade in June and returned abortion regulations to the states.
The state’s 1931 abortion ban allows prosecutors to file criminal charges against health care providers who perform abortions. A 1963 Michigan Supreme Court ruling states mothers cannot be prosecuted for having an abortion.
The battle over abortion rights and whether there is a constitution right to it in Michigan’s constitution is likely to continue into November as well. If a ballot measure is approved, it would ask voters to enshrine abortion rights up until the moment of birth in the state’s constitution.
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As for Wednesday’s legal battle, Kallman said Whitmer’s arguments are on shaky ground.
“I don’t buy her arguments [and] I don’t think she can answer our questions,” Kallman said.
