DETROIT — Oakland County Circuit Judge Jacob Cunningham has ruled Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will not be forced to testify in the case she filed to stop enforcement of Michigan's abortion ban — a decision that was almost immediately appealed to the state Court of Appeals.
Cunningham said Wednesday that Whitmer established good cause to quash the subpoena — issued for a hearing next week on the possibility for a preliminary injunction — when she argued it was unnecessary because the governor hasn't intended to bring the suit in her personal capacity but on behalf of the state.
"It is apparent the defendants' subpoena of the governor is not necessary (or perhaps even meant) to aid this court in resolving the questions before it, and would only serve to detract from the governor's performance of her official duties, needlessly complicate the proceedings before this court, and improperly raise the level of spectacle surrounding the case," Whitmer's attorneys argued in a motion filed Tuesday.
