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Group suing state Legislature over district lines demands court ordered documents

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Current and former legislators are being taken to court to get information about how they drew the state’s district lines in 2011.

The League of Women Voters of Michigan and some Democratic voters filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State. They say the state’s lines were drawn in such a partisan way that Democratic voices are not being heard at the ballot box.

A judge said a group of current and former Republican lawmakers, their staff and legislative entities have relevant information about how the lines were drawn. The judge ordered them to turn information over to the League. They haven’t done that yet.

“The court said very clearly, we are entitled to this information, we are entitled to know what happened behind the scenes,” said attorney for the League, Mark Brewer.

The motion asks the judge to make the legislators hand over the information by July 6th.

“That’s an important part of our lawsuit, the evidence of what happened during the legislative process,” said Brewer. “That’s why the court has said once, we hope will say again, produce this evidence forthwith.”