{"Feature":[{"Photos":[{"Id":108550,"Name":"1593442MichaelWaldman-web.jpg","ArticleId":1593442,"Description":"","IsMainPhoto":false,"Ordering":0}],"id":1593442,"location_id":1,"title":"SAVE Act would stop millions of eligible Americans from voting","summary":"On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that President Trump personally \r\nordered Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to go to Fulton \r\nCounty, Georgia, to be there for the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election \r\nballots. Afterward, he held a pep talk with the agents.
","text":"Michael Waldman
Brennan Center for Justice, president
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that President Trump personally ordered Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to go to Fulton County, Georgia, to be there for the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election ballots. Afterward, he held a pep talk with the agents. It’s a chilling reminder of just how far Trump can seek to move the levers of power to meddle with the freedom to vote.
It’s also a reminder that the stakes are immensely high. As the 2026 midterms fast approach, we see renewed efforts to control or undermine our elections — efforts that loom once again on Capitol Hill. Yes, the SAVE Act is back.
As many readers may know, last year the House narrowly passed that bill — legislation that would effectively require Americans to produce a passport or a birth certificate to register to vote.
Brennan Center research shows that at least 21 million voters?lack ready access to those documents. Roughly?half?of Americans don’t even have a passport. Millions?lack access?to a paper copy of their birth certificate.?Many more voters have names that are different from those on their passports or birth certificates, including married women who have changed their last names.
Plainly, it would be the most restrictive voting bill ever passed by Congress. Even Michael Fragoso, former counsel to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), expressed concern over how much power over elections the bill would hand to the federal government. He writes, “It federalizes elections in a way that Republicans have long opposed.”
Last year, the SAVE Act stalled in the Senate following a chorus of alarm from people across the country. That should have been the end of it. Instead, it is back by political convenience, not public demand.
What’s the opposite of “a good idea whose time has come”? It’s a bad idea that refuses to die.
In both the House and Senate last week, GOP lawmakers introduced revamped versions of the SAVE Act. Lots of fun new ideas have been added into these bills. The Senate version includes a provision that would require citizens to produce a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers not just to register, but every time they vote. This proposal makes an exception for states that have handed over voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security, an effort to coerce states to comply with the administration’s efforts to collect sensitive voter information. (All but a handful of states have refused.)
The House’s amped-up SAVE Act 2.0, called the Make Elections Great Again Act, would prohibit universal mail voting, bar states from counting ballots received after Election Day, and require states to conduct voter purges in a way that would kick many eligible citizens off the rolls. All these extreme measures are in service of the same type of conspiracy theory that animated the White House to send the FBI to Georgia to hunt for imaginary illegal ballots. In this instance, it is the lie that noncitizens routinely vote in our elections. Noncitizen voting is already illegal and vanishingly rare. Fragoso even called out his party, saying “the evidence of illegal aliens voting in large numbers just isn’t there” and that the new laws would harm voters within the MAGA base, too.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declared the revival of the SAVE Act, which in the Senate is called the SAVE America Act, “dead on arrival.” But the anti-voter movement has recently accelerated its efforts. Rep.
Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and others threatened to tie the budget deal to the SAVE Act before backing down after a meeting with Trump. Billionaire Elon Musk has been tweeting repeatedly to demand action. And Trump went on Dan Bongino’s podcast yesterday to declare, “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least 15 places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
While passage in the Senate appears unlikely, it will be up to Democrats to hold their ground and ensure the SAVE Act’s ultimate defeat. It will be up to all of us to not be fooled by the myths and the lies — and protect our elections so they remain free and fair. And we should stand with election officials who now face threats of groundless criminal prosecution for doing their jobs.
For voters, who must have the most powerful voice in our democracy, the stakes are high, and getting higher.
","author_id":0,"date":"2026-02-06T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null},{"Photos":[],"id":1593443,"location_id":1,"title":"Detroit Mercy to host 110th Law Review Symposium on ‘AI?in the Legal Profession’","summary":"The Law Review at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law will host \r\nthe 110th Law Review Symposium on Friday, March 6, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.\r\n This event will be taking place in-person at the school’s downtown \r\nlocation, 651 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit.
","text":"The Law Review at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law will host the 110th Law Review Symposium on Friday, March 6, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. This event will be taking place in-person at the school’s downtown location, 651 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit.
This year’s symposium is titled “From Policy to Practice: Navigating AI in the Legal Profession.” The Detroit Mercy Law Review welcomes legal professionals, students, academics, scholars, practitioners, and other stakeholders from across the country to discuss topics involving AI and its impact on the law.
The practice of law is undergoing a profound transformation. Imagine a courtroom where predictive algorithms assist attorneys in crafting winning strategies, a boardroom where AI models help navigate complex transactions with precision and creativity, and a classroom where professors use AI to enhance learning and prepare students for the evolving legal landscape. Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant possibility or a temporary technological achievement—it is rapidly reshaping how attorneys conduct research, draft documents, advise clients, and advocate for justice.
AI’s potential is vast, but so too are the ethical, professional, and legal questions it raises. For instance: How will AI reshape the training and education of the next generation of lawyers? How do we maintain client confidentiality in an age of automation? How can lawyers leverage AI without compromising the human judgment and advocacy that are the hallmarks of our profession?
This symposium topic seeks to examine the evolutionary role of AI in the practice of law, exploring not only how lawyers can effectively leverage emerging technologies, but also how to navigate the legal, ethical, and policy implications that accompany their use. By fostering dialogue among leading practitioners and scholars, the Review aims to investigate the future of legal work in an age of automation and innovation. Participants will gain insight into both the practical applications of AI in daily practice and the broader considerations for justice, equity, and the rule of law.
Registration for the symposium is required but is free and open to the public. To register, visit
https://law.udmercy.edu/students/law-review/symposium/index.php.
Detroit’s population reportedly grew in 2023 for the first time in 60 \r\nyears, a trend that has continued in recent years. Over the past decade,\r\n the city center has experienced substantial private and public \r\ninvestments and development.
","text":"By Gidon Jakar
University of Florida
(THE CONVERSATION) — Detroit’s population reportedly grew in 2023 for the first time in 60 years, a trend that has continued in recent years. Over the past decade, the city center has experienced substantial private and public investments and development.
I personally witnessed some of the changes in Detroit while I was studying for my Ph.D. at the University of Michigan’s sport management program. I am now an assistant professor at the University of Florida, where I research how sport affects local economies.
One of the changes I witnessed was the construction of Little Caesars Arena and its opening in 2017. The venue cost an estimated US$863 million, including $324 million in public money – a substantial amount, especially considering it was allocated so close to the city’s bankruptcy filing in 2013. The financing deal also included property development agreements, some of which have yet to materialize.
The arena’s primary users and operators are the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings are owned by the Ilitch family, which founded Little Caesars pizza in Detroit in 1959.
My colleagues Nasim Binesh, Kyriaki Kaplanidou and I recently published research examining how much impact the arena had on the hospitality industry in Detroit.
—————
Sport venues and the promise of financial gains
A persistent debate on the benefits of sport venues to local economies is taking place at the same time public officials continue to commit substantial resources toward them.
In just the past five years, in cities such as Buffalo, Las Vegas and Nashville, local and state officials have partnered with sports teams to build new stadiums, frequently offering the franchises incentives, including tax write-offs, free rent and construction cost-sharing.
Far less often, these attempts to build stadiums fail. That happened recently in Kansas City – where voters rejected a new stadium – and Philadelphia, where the team reversed its decision to build the arena near the city’s Chinatown.
As I note in a study co-authored with Mark Rosentraub, a professor at the University of Michigan, cities are competing with each other for new residents and tax revenue from development and economic activity. Some officials clearly perceive maintaining or obtaining “major league” status as an advantage so important that they are willing to spend tax dollars to assist wealthy franchises.
This may explain why it happens, but it does not necessarily justify it.
—————
Little Caesars Arena and the lodging industry
In our study, we examined the lodging industry, including hotels and short-term rentals, which experienced substantial growth coinciding with Detroit’s economic growth.
Short-term rental data was purchased from AirDNA, and hotel data was obtained from STR. Both of these sites compile and sell data, primarily to investors and owners of short-term rentals and hotels.
Our quantitative analysis examined millions of records from 2015 to 2022. Rentals within the city’s boundaries increased from 462 units in 2015 to 2,582 in 2022. A healthy cluster near the city’s downtown grew substantially over this period.
In 2015, 24,592 nights were booked in short-term rentals. By 2022, that number had increased to 161,952. Over the same period, demand for hotel rooms decreased by 19%.
However, hotel rates increased over the same period from an average of $128.20 in 2015 to $197.05 in 2023, meaning that despite the decreased demand, annual hotel revenues increased from $229.6 million in 2015 to $306.1 million in 2023.
Hotels and short-term rentals in Detroit are subject to the state’s 6% sales tax. Hotels also must pay citywide lodging taxes ranging from 3% to 6%, depending on the number of rooms. Lodging taxes are not currently collected for short-term rentals.
—————
The arena opened, then what?
So, how much did the new arena affect the supply and demand for lodging?
To answer that question, we compared Detroit’s numbers with short-term rental data from Grand Rapids, the second-largest city in the state.
The answer is not that much.
Detroit’s short-term rental growth was not dissimilar to that in Grand Rapids – even though no major league franchises play there and no major stadium had been built there. Demand in Grand Rapids grew 1,210% versus 1,284% in Detroit. The number of units available grew by 702% in Grand Rapids, compared to 674% in Detroit.
Regarding the impact of Little Caesars Arena, our study suggests sport events there do not appear to have a positive impact on the lodging industry.
While sporting events had little impact, the arena also hosts concerts with big-name acts, including Harry Styles, Jay-Z and The Weeknd. Our research shows these concerts significantly increased occupancy rates in short-term rentals – although the effect did not translate to hotels.
But the rentals needed to be very convenient to the venue. Increases on concert nights were more than three times higher in short-term rental units located within a mile of the arena compared to the city as a whole.
","author_id":0,"date":"2026-02-06T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null},{"Photos":[],"id":1593445,"location_id":1,"title":"Slotkin rejects Justice Department request for interview on Democrats’ video about ‘illegal orders’","summary":"Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan is refusing to voluntarily \r\ncomply with a Justice Department investigation into a video she \r\norganized urging U.S. military members to resist “illegal orders” — \r\nescalating a dispute that President Donald Trump has publicly pushed.
","text":"Senator says she’s considering litigation
By Joey Cappelletti
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan is refusing to voluntarily comply with a Justice Department investigation into a video she organized urging U.S. military members to resist “illegal orders” — escalating a dispute that President Donald Trump has publicly pushed.
In letters first obtained by The Associated Press, Slotkin’s lawyer informed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro that the senator would not agree to a voluntary interview about the video. Slotkin’s legal team also requested that Pirro preserve all documents related to the matter for “anticipated litigation.”
Slotkin’s lawyer separately wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, declining to sit for an FBI interview about the video and urging her to immediately terminate any inquiry.
The refusal marks a potential turning point in the standoff, shifting the burden onto the Justice Department to decide whether it will escalate an investigation into sitting members of Congress or retreat from an inquiry now being openly challenged.
“I did this to go on offense,” Slotkin said in an interview Wednesday. “And to put them in a position where they’re tap dancing. To put them in a position where they have to own their choices of using a U.S. attorney’s office to come after a senator.”
—————
‘It’s not gonna stop unless I fight back’
Last November, Slotkin joined five other Democratic lawmakers — all of whom previously served in the military or at intelligence agencies — in posting a 90-second video urging U.S. service members to follow established military protocols and reject orders they believe to be unlawful.
The lawmakers said Trump’s Republican administration was “pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens” and called on troops to “stand up for our laws.”
The video sparked a firestorm in Republican circles and soon drew the attention of Trump, who accused the lawmakers of sedition and said their actions were “punishable by death.”
The Pentagon later announced it had opened an investigation into Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot who appeared in the video. The FBI then contacted the lawmakers seeking interviews, signaling a broader Justice Department inquiry.
Slotkin said multiple legal advisers initially urged caution.
“Maybe if you keep quiet, this will all go away over Christmas,” Slotkin said she was told.
But in January, the matter flared again, with the lawmakers saying they were contacted by the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.
Meanwhile, security threats mounted. Slotkin said her farm in Michigan received a bomb threat, her brother was assigned a police detail due to threats and her parents were swatted in the middle of the night.
Her father, who died in January after a long battle with cancer, “could barely walk and he’s dealing with the cops in his home,” she said.
Slotkin said a “switch went off” in her and she became angry: “And I said, ‘It’s not gonna stop unless I fight back.’”
—————
Democratic senators draw a line
The requests from the FBI and the Justice Department have been voluntary. Slotkin said that her legal team had communicated with prosecutors but that officials “keep asking for a personal interview.”
Slotkin’s lawyer, Preet Bharara, in the letter to Pirro declined the interview request and asked that she “immediately terminate any open investigation and cease any further inquiry concerning the video.” In the other letter, Bharara urged Bondi to use her authority to direct Pirro to close the inquiry.
Bharara wrote that Slotkin’s constitutional rights had been infringed and said litigation is being considered.
“All options are most definitely on the table,” Slotkin said. Asked whether she would comply with a subpoena, she paused before responding: “I’d take a hard look at it.”
Bharara, who’s representing Slotkin in the case, is a former U.S. attorney in New York who was fired by Trump in 2017 during his first administration. He’s also representing Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California in a separate case involving the Justice Department.
Kelly has similarly pushed back, suing the Pentagon last month over attempts to punish him for the video. On Tuesday, a federal judge said that he knows of no U.S. Supreme Court precedent to justify the Pentagon’s censuring of Kelly as he weighed whether to intervene.
Slotkin said she’s in contact with the other lawmakers who appeared in the video, but she wouldn’t say what their plans were in the investigations.
—————
A rising profile
Trump has frequently and consistently targeted his political opponents. In some cases, those attacks have had the unintended consequence of elevating their national standing.
In Kelly’s case, he raised more than $12.5 million in the final months of 2025 following the “illegal orders” video controversy, according to campaign finance filings.
Slotkin, like Kelly, has been mentioned among Democrats who could emerge as presidential contenders in 2028.
She previously represented one of the nation’s most competitive House districts before winning a Senate seat in Michigan in 2024, even as Trump carried the state.
Slotkin delivered the Democratic response to Trump’s address to Congress last year and has since urged her party to confront him more aggressively, saying Democrats had lost their “alpha energy” and calling on them to “go nuclear” against Trump’s redistricting push.
“If I’m encouraging other people to take risk, how can I not then accept risk myself?” Slotkin said. “I think you’ve got to show people that we’re not going to lay down and take it.”
","author_id":0,"date":"2026-02-06T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null},{"Photos":[],"id":1593446,"location_id":1,"title":"Daily Briefs","summary":"
Many of the State Bar of Michigan’s online services will be \r\nunavailable on Friday, February 6. The website will be down for \r\nscheduled maintenance starting in the early morning hours on Friday. SBM\r\n expects to restore online services Friday afternoon.
","text":"State Bar website offline today for maintenance
Many of the State Bar of Michigan’s online services will be unavailable on Friday, February 6. The website will be down for scheduled maintenance starting in the early morning hours on Friday. SBM expects to restore online services Friday afternoon.
Anyone in need assistance during the website outage should contact the State Bar of Michigan at 1-888-726-3678. Information also will be posted throughout the outage to help website visitors find the help they need.
License renewal will remain open and accessible throughout the outage in our online Member Area at michbar.org/ MemberArea.
The outage will impact the main State Bar of Michigan website at michbar.org as well as services including the SBM Store, Events registration, Certificates of Good Standing, new member applications, and the classic directory.
Lawyer Referral Service panel members also will not have access to their reporting server. However, the Lawyer Referral Service will remain open and available by phone at 1-800-968-0738 to serve Michigan residents seeking referral to an attorney.
Speakers discuss youth resentencing hearings March 4
The Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council (PACC) is pleased to present the Lunch & Learn Webinar “Miller Hearings – Legal and Practical Considerations” on Wednesday, March 4, from noon to 1:15 p.m. via Zoom
With last year’s Michigan Supreme Court decisions broadening the number of youthful murderers entitled to a resentencing hearing, more offices are facing the prospect of trying to convince a local judge, and later the appellate courts, that certain offenders merit a sentence of life without parole.
Prosecutors and APAs are invited to learn more about both the legal issues and some of the more practical steps in presenting cases to a trial judge. Jim Benison, the training attorney for the Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council, will moderate a discussion with Jon Wojtala, the chief of appeals for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office; Michelle Jarczewski, the director of the Juvenile Lifer Unit at Wayne County; and Katie Wendt, the chief appellate attorney for Kent County, on things to think about when presenting these cases. There will be time for Q&A.
There is no charge to attend but advance registration is required. To register, prosecutors and APAs should visit
https://michiganprosecutor.org and click on “Training Calendar.” Registrants will receive the Zoom link in your registration confirmation email. The webinar will be recorded and available for other prosecutor offices in case court or life prevents someone from attending.
Anyone with questions may email Jim Benison at benisonj@michigan.gov.