LogFAQs > #962919172

GOP attorney general hopefuls seek to overturn landmark contraception law, want election 'audit' Michigan Advance
By: Jon King - February 20, 2022 9:19 am
It may have been the last question of last weeks debate for the three men seeking the GOP nomination for Michigan attorney general, but the inquiry seeking their stances on a 1965 Supreme Court ruling has garnered the most attention.
The question concerned the high courts decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, a landmark decision that struck down Connecticuts ban on the sale of contraception. Citing a right to marital privacy, Griswold helped to pave the way for 1973s Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion that many experts expect will be overturned or gutted by the right-wing-majority Supreme Court this year.
However, at Friday nights forum at Alpena Community College, all three candidates Former House Speaker Tom Leonard (R-DeWitt), state Rep. Ryan Berman (R-Commerce Twp) and Kalamazoo-based attorney Matthew DePerno, indicated they thought the issue was wrongly decided and trampled on states rights.

After seeking clarification as to what the Griswold decision was, Leonard was the first to respond. This case, much like Roe v. Wade, I believe was wrongly decided, because this isit was an issue that trampled states rights and it was an issue that should have been left up to the states.
Berman then echoed that, after indicating that he was unaware of the decision.
You know, what? I wasnt familiar with Griswold vs. Connecticut, but Im an advanced legal researcher, so I pulled it up real quick to look what it was about, he said. And it says the court ruled that the Constitution did in fact protect the right of marital privacy against state restrictions on contraception. Again, I would have to look more into it and the reasoning behind it, but Im all about states rights and limiting federal, and especially federal, judicial activism.
DePerno followed suit, saying, I didnt know we could have our phones up here.
The line drew laughter from the audience and prompted Berman to quip, You gotta be quick.
DePerno then continued, saying that the Griswold and Roe decisions were states right issues and predicted that the U.S. Supreme Court would rule that the privacy issue currently is unworkable.
DePerno, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump and is known for espousing conspiracy theories, then finished with a flourish.
We need to start defending state rights as attorney generals, across this country, he said. Too many people, even in our own party, too many people have lost the idea of what states rights means. They havent read the works of our Founding Fathers. They havent read The Federalist Papers. They continue to push the idea that we need to give rights away to the federal government. We dont. We need to take state rights back. We need to stand in our borders. When the feds come and try to take our rights, we need to stand as citizens in Michigan and hold the line and protect states rights.

While that drew a hearty round of applause from Fridays audience, it prompted a less than celebratory response from the woman all three candidates are hoping to replace this November. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, tweeted out afterward it was terrifying that the three Republicans running for Michigan attorney general just stated that they oppose the ruling in Griswold v Connecticut which outlawed prosecuting married couples for using contraception.