LANSING — Outgoing Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette on Monday blasted a recent decision by a federal judge in Detroit that declared a law against genital mutilation unconstitutional, and urged federal prosecutors to appeal the decision.
"What happened to those young girls is horrific," Schuette, who as the Republican nominee for governor was defeated by Democrat Gretchen Whitmer in the Nov. 6 election, said during an exit interview with reporters in his Lansing office.
"I think the federal judge's decision was wrong," and "I would hope that the federal government would appeal that decision, that case."
In a Nov. 20 ruling, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman dismissed key charges against two Michigan doctors and six others accused of subjecting at least nine minor girls to the cutting procedure in the nation's first female genital mutilation case.
The judge's ruling also dismissed charges against three mothers, including two Minnesota women who prosecutors said tricked their 7-year-old daughters into thinking they were coming to metro Detroit for a girls' weekend, but instead had their genitals cut at a Livonia clinic as part of a religious procedure.Friedman concluded that "as despicable as this practice may be," Congress did not have the authority to pass the 22-year-old federal law, and that it is for the states to regulate.
The Michigan Legislature has passed criminal genital mutilation laws in the wake of the Detroit-area case, but those laws can't be enforced retroactively.
Also Monday:
- Schuette said he has yet to speak with, let alone meet with, his successor as attorney general, Democrat Dana Nessel. He said they've exchanged messages but their schedules have not aligned. However, "my team has met with her three or four times," Schuette said.
- On controversial bills now before the Michigan Legislature that are criticized for reversing or amending the will-of-voter initiatives or unconstitutionally encroaching on the powers of the executive or the judiciary, Schuette said: "I admire what my friends in the Legislature are doing on a variety of different issues," and "I don't see it as a usurpation of power."
- Schuette said he hasn't decided on what he will do next, or whether he will run for political office again, but he suggested he has no plans to retire.
First elected to public office 34 years ago, Schuette, who turned 65 in October, holds the relatively rare distinction of having served in all three branches of state government — the legislative, executive and judicial branches — plus Congress.
He served three terms in Congress, worked in the cabinet of former Michigan Gov. John Engler, served in the state Senate, and then as a judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals before he was elected attorney general in 2010.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.
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