scot623
Regular Member
Thank you all very much for reaching out to your various library boards and getting back to us with your interest in contributing to and joining the "friend of the court" brief to encourage the Michigan Supreme Court to hear Capital Area District Library's forthcoming appeal. We have recieved some great feedback and wanted to answer a few questions that have been raised by multiple folks.
The first series of questions that a few people have asked is whether we know exactly how much the brief will cost, how much each library will need to contribute, and whether each library will be contributing an equal amount. As we've indicated to each of you, we understand how tight library budgets across the state are, and that is why we will be capping the fees for this engagement at $12,500. At this point, we do not know how many libraries in total will be joining this effort, and thus we cannot provide a final cost figure per library, However, as described below, we are not going to ask any library to contribute more than $1,500. With your help, we continue to reach out to and have had productive discussions with additional libraries and library cooperatives, and are hopeful that even more district libraries will agree to be part of this project, which would decrease the cost for each individual library. Certainly if you have personal connections with other district library directors or boards and would be kind enough to make an introduction to them for us, we would be happy to speak with them.
Given how many district libraries we have spoken with so far, we would ask that you receive authorization from your board to contribute up to $1,500 for this project. We are hopeful that even if your libraries authorize an expenditure of that amount, we will have enough support from enough libraries that it will not be necessary to use that entire allocation. Now, we understand that not all libraries will be able to contribute this amount, and that the libraries we've spoken with vary in terms of size, finances, and overall resources. But we do ask that you let us know what amount your library is able to contribute. When and if we are able to confirm that there is sufficient financial support for our effort, we will let everyone know and will begin our work.
The second question we have recieved is whether each library would need to have their name associated with the brief, or whether a library can support the brief through a contribution without attaching its name to the brief. The answer is that a library can make a contribution privately, without its name appearing on the brief.
We have spoken recently with former Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court Clifford Taylor, our partner, and he is eager to begin work on this project if we are able to move forward.
We again appreciate your support and if you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to let us know.
-Scott
Scott A. Warheit | Attorney and Counselor at Law
Miller Canfield
840 W. Long Lake Road, Suite 200
Troy, Michigan 48098 (USA)
T +1.248.267.3259 | F +1.248.879.2001
warheit@millercanfield.com | View Profile + VCard
Subject: Friend of the Court Brief - CADL Appeal
Richard, Kay, Vickey, Paul, Pat, Bill, Kathleen, and David -
Thank you all for taking the time to speak with my colleague Matthew Leitman and myself over the past few days regarding the "guns in library" Michigan Court of Appeals decision. We appreciate Doug and Mary's help in reaching out to you, and we're glad to see that there is a consensus that working together to help convince the Michigan Supreme Court to consider an appeal in the Capital Area District Library case is in the interest of your library and your patrons.
As we discussed, the Capital Area District Library is likely to soon ask the Michigan Supreme Court to hear its appeal of the Court of Appeals' decision. And quite unlike the Michigan Court of Appeals, the Michigan Supreme Court has complete discretion over what cases it hears. So convincing the Michigan Supreme Court to consider this case is the immediate hurdle facing the CADL. It is at this stage where we believe that a consortium of district libraries could be of valuable help to the CADL through filing a "friend of the court" brief with the Michigan Supreme Court.
We were glad to hear when speaking with you that you believed this was an important and concerning issue worthy of your library's resources, and we would be happy to draft and file such a "friend of the court" brief on the consortium's behalf urging the Michigan Supreme Court to use its limited resources to hear the CADL's appeal. We feel that any brief we file would have added credibility and force with the Justices considering it because the former Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, Clifford Taylor, would be part of our team drafting and submitting the brief on the libraries' behalf.
What we would ask now is that you speak with your respective Boards and let us know to what extent your libraries would be willing to help fund this project. We understand the reality of library budgets (as a member of a library board myself, I know this first hand) which is why we've agreed to cap and reduce our fees for this important engagement and why we're reaching out to as many district libraries as possible from across the state. To that end, if you know of additional district libraries that you believe would be interested in helping fund this project, and wouldn't mind making an introduction for Matt or myself, we would be happy to speak with them so that the brief can have more force and help defray the costs for each individual library.
As for as timing of this brief, currently the CADL has a "motion for rehearing" pending with the Michigan Court of Appeals, asking it to reconsider its decision. That motion could be denied at any time, and the clock starts ticking on us to quickly draft and file our "friend of the court" brief as soon as the Court of Appeals hands down that ruling. If you could attempt to get back to us next week, we would greatly appreciate it. If the Michigan Court of Appeals rules on the CADL's motion in the meantime, we will certainly let you know. In addition, if you and/or your board members have any questions about this process, please do not hesitate to let us know.
Thanks again for your time and we look forward to hearing back from you on your respective Boards' ability and interest in helping to fund this project.
-Scott
The first series of questions that a few people have asked is whether we know exactly how much the brief will cost, how much each library will need to contribute, and whether each library will be contributing an equal amount. As we've indicated to each of you, we understand how tight library budgets across the state are, and that is why we will be capping the fees for this engagement at $12,500. At this point, we do not know how many libraries in total will be joining this effort, and thus we cannot provide a final cost figure per library, However, as described below, we are not going to ask any library to contribute more than $1,500. With your help, we continue to reach out to and have had productive discussions with additional libraries and library cooperatives, and are hopeful that even more district libraries will agree to be part of this project, which would decrease the cost for each individual library. Certainly if you have personal connections with other district library directors or boards and would be kind enough to make an introduction to them for us, we would be happy to speak with them.
Given how many district libraries we have spoken with so far, we would ask that you receive authorization from your board to contribute up to $1,500 for this project. We are hopeful that even if your libraries authorize an expenditure of that amount, we will have enough support from enough libraries that it will not be necessary to use that entire allocation. Now, we understand that not all libraries will be able to contribute this amount, and that the libraries we've spoken with vary in terms of size, finances, and overall resources. But we do ask that you let us know what amount your library is able to contribute. When and if we are able to confirm that there is sufficient financial support for our effort, we will let everyone know and will begin our work.
The second question we have recieved is whether each library would need to have their name associated with the brief, or whether a library can support the brief through a contribution without attaching its name to the brief. The answer is that a library can make a contribution privately, without its name appearing on the brief.
We have spoken recently with former Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court Clifford Taylor, our partner, and he is eager to begin work on this project if we are able to move forward.
We again appreciate your support and if you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to let us know.
-Scott
Scott A. Warheit | Attorney and Counselor at Law
Miller Canfield
840 W. Long Lake Road, Suite 200
Troy, Michigan 48098 (USA)
T +1.248.267.3259 | F +1.248.879.2001
warheit@millercanfield.com | View Profile + VCard
Subject: Friend of the Court Brief - CADL Appeal
Richard, Kay, Vickey, Paul, Pat, Bill, Kathleen, and David -
Thank you all for taking the time to speak with my colleague Matthew Leitman and myself over the past few days regarding the "guns in library" Michigan Court of Appeals decision. We appreciate Doug and Mary's help in reaching out to you, and we're glad to see that there is a consensus that working together to help convince the Michigan Supreme Court to consider an appeal in the Capital Area District Library case is in the interest of your library and your patrons.
As we discussed, the Capital Area District Library is likely to soon ask the Michigan Supreme Court to hear its appeal of the Court of Appeals' decision. And quite unlike the Michigan Court of Appeals, the Michigan Supreme Court has complete discretion over what cases it hears. So convincing the Michigan Supreme Court to consider this case is the immediate hurdle facing the CADL. It is at this stage where we believe that a consortium of district libraries could be of valuable help to the CADL through filing a "friend of the court" brief with the Michigan Supreme Court.
We were glad to hear when speaking with you that you believed this was an important and concerning issue worthy of your library's resources, and we would be happy to draft and file such a "friend of the court" brief on the consortium's behalf urging the Michigan Supreme Court to use its limited resources to hear the CADL's appeal. We feel that any brief we file would have added credibility and force with the Justices considering it because the former Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, Clifford Taylor, would be part of our team drafting and submitting the brief on the libraries' behalf.
What we would ask now is that you speak with your respective Boards and let us know to what extent your libraries would be willing to help fund this project. We understand the reality of library budgets (as a member of a library board myself, I know this first hand) which is why we've agreed to cap and reduce our fees for this important engagement and why we're reaching out to as many district libraries as possible from across the state. To that end, if you know of additional district libraries that you believe would be interested in helping fund this project, and wouldn't mind making an introduction for Matt or myself, we would be happy to speak with them so that the brief can have more force and help defray the costs for each individual library.
As for as timing of this brief, currently the CADL has a "motion for rehearing" pending with the Michigan Court of Appeals, asking it to reconsider its decision. That motion could be denied at any time, and the clock starts ticking on us to quickly draft and file our "friend of the court" brief as soon as the Court of Appeals hands down that ruling. If you could attempt to get back to us next week, we would greatly appreciate it. If the Michigan Court of Appeals rules on the CADL's motion in the meantime, we will certainly let you know. In addition, if you and/or your board members have any questions about this process, please do not hesitate to let us know.
Thanks again for your time and we look forward to hearing back from you on your respective Boards' ability and interest in helping to fund this project.
-Scott
