WARREN, Mich. – A federal court has dismissed Warren Mayor Jim Fouts’ lawsuit seeking to permit him to run for a fifth term in 2023, which courts have already barred him from doing due to the city’s new term limits.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Southern Michigan on Tuesday, Sept. 5 granted the Warren City Council’s motion to dismiss Fouts’ lawsuit against them. Fouts, who is currently serving his fourth term as Warren mayor, was requesting input from a federal court after local and state courts prohibited him from running for office again in 2023.
The Michigan Court of Appeals in April ordered the city clerk to “immediately disqualify” Fouts for this year’s election after a charter amendment that passed in 2020 established a three-term limit for Warren mayors. Fouts, arguing the charter amendment can’t be applied retroactively -- meaning his previous terms shouldn’t be counted -- appealed the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court in an effort to get his name on the ballot. The state’s high court denied his request in May.
One week ahead of the city’s primary election, Fouts filed a lawsuit against the city council in federal court, claiming his civil rights were violated by the term limit ordinance. The current mayor asked the federal court to decertify the results from the August primary election, and to order a special election be held before the general election to include Fouts as a mayoral candidate.
One month after the primary election, in which Fouts was not included as a candidate, the U.S. district court decided that Fouts’ claims could not be substantiated. The court ordered to dismiss Fouts’ complaint “in its entirety.”
A statement issued by Fouts’ counsel says he and his lawyers “respectfully disagree” with the U.S. district court’s decision, and plan to appeal the decision to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Fouts has argued throughout the year that the new term limits -- which passed with a 68% majority in 2020 -- should not apply to his already 15 years in office as Warren mayor. The ordinance took effect at the beginning of the mayor’s fourth term.
A Macomb County Circuit Court judge initially ruled in March that Fouts could run this year, after the city council sued him over his intention to run for a fifth term. But that decision was overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals, which decided in April that Fouts was not allowed to run.
The Warren city commissioner, election commission, and city clerk appealed the appellate court’s decision to the Michigan Supreme Court, but that appeal was denied.
After the state Supreme Court denied his appeal, Fouts argued that he has a “First Amendment right to run” for office, and said the case should be considered at the federal level. He argued his federal constitutional rights “should supersede” the council’s enforcement of the charter amendment that passed in 2020, calling the language vague and unclear. But the Court of Appeals said that the language in the amendment was not ambiguous.
The appellate court also cleared up the “retroactive vs. prospective” concern in April, saying the charter amendment is in effect for the 2023 election, which would bar Fouts from being able to run.
“... the [city] Council here seeks only prospective application of the amendment. It did not retroactively seek to disrupt Mayor Fouts’ fourth term in office after the 2019 election once the amendment passed in 2020. Rather, the Council now seeks a declaration that Mayor Fouts is subject to the version of the charter in effect in 2023, on the basis of term limits amendment passed in 2020, for the election that will occur later this year,” the decision reads. “Prospectively, the terms served before the amendment’s passage will be counted. Thus, the amendment need not be applied retrospectively to afford the Council relief.”
Read the U.S. district court’s entire Sept. 5 decision below.