U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday denied an emergency application from Americans for Citizen Voting-Michigan (ACVM), which sought an injunction to get its proposed amendment onto Michigan’s November ballot. The one-line docket entry offered no explanation for the denial.

Three Signatures and a Supreme Court Showdown

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ACVM submitted more than 700,000 petition signatures, but after reviewing a sample of 1,000, state election officials determined the proposal came up three valid signatures short of the number needed in the sample. The Board of State Canvassers subsequently deadlocked 2-2 on certification.

ACVM argued state officials took  5-1/2 months to review the sample and then left the group virtually no time to challenge rejected signatures. The organization also accused officials of refusing to count affidavits from voters whose signatures had been rejected – even though, according to ACVM, officials had previously suggested affidavits as a way to establish their identities.

With the clock rapidly running out, ACVM went to Kavanaugh, the justice assigned to emergency matters arising from the Sixth Circuit.

Emergency Exit Closed

In a Wednesday filing, ACVM warned that without Supreme Court intervention by the close of business Thursday, its opportunity to put the amendment before voters this November would be lost. Kavanaugh declined to provide that intervention.

The Initiative and Referendum Institute also filed an amicus brief Thursday supporting ACVM, arguing that Michigan’s dispute reflects a broader problem with opaque signature-verification procedures and that voters should be allowed to decide the proposal themselves. It is not clear, however, if the brief made it to Kavanaugh before he denied the emergency application.

Kavanaugh’s denial does not decide the ultimate merits of ACVM’s constitutional claims. It does, however, reject the emergency relief the group said it needed Thursday to preserve a place on the November ballot.

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The Democratic-controlled Michigan Supreme Court case technically remains pending, but the clock is essentially at zero. For ACVM to make the November ballot, the state’s high court would have to intervene at the eleventh hour and order the proposal certified before Michigan officials finalize the ballot Friday. Without that intervention, the citizenship amendment will not appear before voters in November.

Meanwhile, state election officials are preparing for the possibility that the proposal could still make a last-minute appearance on the ballot. The Board of State Canvassers is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Friday and will consider the proposed 100-word ballot summary for the citizenship amendment “in the event it is placed on the ballot.” The Bureau of Elections has already drafted the language, which would appear as Proposal 2026-2.