Warren Mayor Fouts sues council for violating civil rights; lawsuit called 'frivolous'

Warren ― Warren Mayor Jim Fouts is suing the City Council and other officials in federal court by arguing the council violated his federal civil rights by blocking his bid to run for a fifth term in office, a claim council President Patrick Green called "frivolous."

The announcement came two and a half months after the Michigan Supreme Court denied his appeal and let stand a unanimous Court of Appeals ruling that the mayor could not seek reelection because of a voter-approved 2020 amendment to the city charter that set term limits for mayor at three four-year terms. Fouts is nearing the end of his fourth four-year term.

Fouts is asking the Warren Election Commission, Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini and City Clerk Sonja Buffa to decertify the upcoming Tuesday mayoral primary election and schedule a special election to be held before November with his name on the ballot, in addition to the six candidates currently running. The mayor made the move even though he had endorsed mayoral candidate George Dimas, the city’s human resources director.

"This is about the fact that everybody has a right to be able to exert their constitutional rights," Fouts said. "It (the amendment) was an exclusive proposal to limit my right to be on the ballot."

Ballots for next week's primary have been printed since June and absentee voters have been casting their ballots since early July, council President and mayoral candidate Green said in a statement. He called the mayor's lawsuit "frivolous" and said it is designed to suppress voter participation.

"The City Council will vigorously defend against any attack on our city charter and voter-approved term limits," Green asid. "The mayor is going to waste more taxpayer dollars, and we will hold him accountable."

Fout's attorney Nabih Ayad said he hopes to get an expedited hearing for the complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Wednesday.

The complaint argues that the council, election commission, city clerk and Macomb County clerk violated Fouts' First, Fifth and 14th Amendment rights when the City Council sought to retroactively enforce a three-term mayoral limit passed in a 2020 city charter amendment, Ayad said at the news conference. Fouts is also seeking monetary damages in the federal lawsuit but did not specify how much.

"I do feel this is an important constitutional question," Fouts said. "No legislative body should be able to target one person without acknowledging what it is."

The Warren City Council's attorney Jeffrey Schroeder, who works for the Bloomfield Hills-based Plunkett Cooney law firm, has previously said the proposal's language was very clear. Earlier this year, the City Council filed a lawsuit to prevent Fouts from seeking re-election and won in the courts. Fouts was first elected mayor in 2007 and is in his 16th year in office.

The amendment overturned a measure approved by voters in 2016 that allowed the mayor to serve up to five terms for a total of 20 years maximum. Ayad called it "a coup" specifically intended to get the mayor out of office.

"If you're going to pass some law..., it must be crystal clear that it applies retroactively," Ayad said. "They (City Council) weren't, and they are the ones that maneuvered this to their benefit."

In March, a Macomb County Circuit Court judge ruled Fouts was allowed to run for a fifth term.

But in April, a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Fouts was ineligible to run for mayor. The judges said the Maccomb judge was wrong to conclude the charter amendment language was ambiguous.

Fouts appealed the decision and said that language in the 2020 ballot amendment was unclear about enforcing term limits retroactively.

The next month, the Michigan Supreme Court decided not to take up his appeal. Fouts said its ruling was a "profound disappointment."

"To my utter disappointment and surprise, the state Supreme Court decided that they would not even hear my case," Fouts said Wednesday "They denied me my due process, they denied me my free speech."

The Michigan Supreme Court often declines to hear appeals of cases. Wednesday's filing is the latest in a series of lawsuits between Fouts and the City Council over not only about his ability to seek re-election but each other's respective powers in city government and the budget.

During his "State of the City" address in June, Fouts called on Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to investigate the decisions of the Michigan State Supreme Court and the state Court of Appeals. Nessel's office didn't comment.

Fouts also said in June that if the state won't investigate, he would request a federal investigation into the Michigan court system.

hmackay@detroitnews.com

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