by Rob Smith

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Governor Rick Snyder in the Michigan courts. First a Wayne County judge declared closed-door meetings of the finance team which had been evaluating whether Detroit should be forced to accept an Emergency Manager a violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act. Then, a judge in Flint reinstated that city’s duly elected officials, tossing out the Governor’s Emergency Manager. Yesterday, a Michigan judge declared the state’s cut-off of 11,000 families last October from cash assistance programs null and void.

All in all, over the past few weeks Michigan residents and the nation have seen consistent judicial repudiation of Republican shenanigans in the Great Lakes State—reversals of efforts by the Michigan GOP and the state’s governor to trample voting rights and save money on the backs of the poor.

Last October social services groups, politicians and Democrats throughout Michigan accused the Michigan Department of Human Services, its Director Maura Corrigan, and Governor Rick Snyder of trying to save a buck—$60 million bucks to be exact—on the backs of the state’s most needy residents. Under a change to a 2007 law aimed at limiting the total number of years a resident can take advantage of cash assistance programs, 11,000 Michigan families were summarily tossed off state welfare programs. The move impacted an estimated 15,000-20,000 children. In Michigan one in four of the state’s kids live in poverty (23 percent) and this is more than double the national childhood poverty rate (11 percent).

In response to both the new law severely limiting cash assistance benefits, as well as the removal of those 11,000 families in October 2011, the Saginaw, Michigan Center for Civil Justice, represented families who brought a lawsuit in protest of their removal from state cash assistance programs by the Michigan Department of Human Services and its Director Maura Corrigan in what plaintiffs argued was a blatant end-run around safeguards put into place by the Michigan legislature in 2007.

Genesee County Circuit Court Judge Geoffrey Neithercut ruled that state officials can’t take away welfare benefits under a five-year federal limit if recipients still qualify for cash assistance under state law. In addition, Judge Neithercut wrote in his ruling that the Michigan Department of Human Services Director Maura Corrigan “exceeded her authority” by ending benefits for more than 11,000 families last October because they had reached the federal limit even though they remained eligible under state limits.

In 2007, Michigan put into place a four-year limit on benefits that had several safeguards and exceptions. Last October, legislators approved stricter enforcement. Neithercut’s ruling means that the state can’t deny cash assistance benefits to those who haven’t reached the four-year state cap. Michigan’s four-year limit excludes time when a recipient with a disability is unemployed, and/or when family members are out of work caring for a disabled spouse or child. However, those months count under the federal limit.

Michigan Department of Human Services  spokesman Dave Akerly declined to comment before officials had an opportunity to study the judge’s ruling. He did point out that the DHS has appealed some of Neithercut’s earlier rulings regarding the limiting of cash assistance by state officials. “We’ll clearly have more to say later, but it would be unfair without a full review of everything the judge put out today in his opinion,” Akerly said.

Governor Snyder’s 2010-2011 budget includes saving $60 million by using the stricter standards to remove families from the state’s cash assistance program.

Jackie Doig is the senior staff attorney at the Center for Civil Justice. She had this to say in a statement the Center released in response to the reversal of the state’s removal of the 11,000 families: “Legislators and (Gov. Rick Snyder) consistently have said they wanted to protect families that cannot support themselves through employment because of serious disabilities, but the 60-month time limit policy eliminated that protection….Under this ruling, the Legislature’s intent will be carried out.”

Much to the chagrin of state officials who were counting on having an additional $60 million dollars from tossing tens of thousands of Michigan children off of cash assistance, Judge Neithercut’s ruling would make many of those 11,000 families eligible again for assistance until they reach the state’s four-year limit. The families could be eligible to receive cash assistance from the state as long as they continue to fall under the law’s exemptions.

Many families with disabled children, parents or spouses had said they were worried their loved ones wouldn’t get the care they needed if the caregiver in the family had to work outside the home. Judge Neithercut, in a clear swipe at the motives of Snyder and Corrigan, said Michigan’s legislators had attempted to exempt time such caregivers were needed at home or that recipients were disabled from counting toward the four-year limit, since “attempting to force … (those families) into independence would undoubtedly fail and would only lead to hardship.”

Neithercut went on to drive home his criticisms in his written opinion: “The Legislature of Michigan recognized the futility of any such limitation, but the director has decided to do a run-around of the Legislature.” When Corrigan decided those recipients should be limited to five years of benefits under the federal limit regardless of the exemptions in the state limit, “she interfered with the authority of the Michigan Legislature,” he went on to write.

To be sure, this isn’t the last word on the matter for those 11,000 families and their children. The DHS has threatened to file an appeal and it’s virtually certain a higher court will be asked to reverse this decision.