A Michigan Court of Claims judge granted a request from the GOP-led Michigan House of Representatives for a preliminary injunction to stop Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration from spending money Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee blocked in an unprecedented move that drew fierce backlash from Democrats.
Michigan Court of Claims Chief Judge Michael Gadola issued the order just hours after a court hearing on the request Friday, Jan. 16. It stops any further spending of the funding disapproved by Republicans as the legal fight over whether the budget maneuver violated the Michigan Constitution plays out.
In late 2025, the House Appropriations Committee unilaterally denied a request from the state budget director to carry over hundreds of millions in previously appropriated funds for state departments, nonprofits and local governments left unspent by the end of the last fiscal year.
House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, championed the move as part of a GOP campaign to eliminate state spending he deems waste, fraud and abuse. Outraged Democrats blasted the cuts, highlighting their impact on programs providing wigs for children with cancer, recovery from the Flint water crisis and cash assistance for pregnant women and new mothers.
State Sen. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, requested a legal opinion from Attorney General Dana Nessel on whether the state law Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee used to make the sweeping cuts violates the Michigan Constitution. Nessel found that it does in an opinion released Jan. 7.
On the same day, the State Budget Office “‘activated’ the spending codes for these disputed funds, authorizing the other defendant departments and agencies to begin encumbering or spending the funds immediately,” according to Gadola’s order. Two days later, the Michigan House of Representatives filed a lawsuit in the Michigan Court of Claims seeking to prevent the Whitmer administration from spending the money Republicans blocked.
It’s not totally clear whether state departments have spent any of the money. It’s not even clear how much of the $645 million in work project cuts made by House Republicans included previously encumbered funds set aside to be spent.
Assistant Attorney General Adam de Bear, representing several state departments, said that more than 50% – and possibly 70% – of the $645 million Republicans declined to designate as work project funding was already encumbered, raising confusion expressed by Gadola as to why the funding was included in the work projects request. De Bear indicated that it reflects the time it takes for the State Budget Office to put together a request to designate funding as a work project and a desire not to leave any previously appropriated funds on the table.
Sean Dutton, a lawyer for the Michigan House, called out the lack of information during a Jan. 16 court hearing. “They don’t know what the numbers are,” he said. But he said that as the legal arguments over the constitutionality of the work projects play out, the GOP-led Michigan House has one goal: stop state departments from spending unencumbered funds “and make sure if we eventually win, we don’t come up with an empty bag,” Dutton said.
But what funds have the state departments spent — if any — following Nessel’s opinion? After back and forth during the court hearing over the status of the money at issue in the legal fight, de Bear’s final response didn’t provide a firm answer to the question. “To be clear, I never represented that the state is still spending this money. I represented that I did not specifically instruct them not to spend this money. Unclear as to whether that’s happened,” he told Gadola.
Gadola’s order only applies to funding that wasn’t encumbered by Sept. 15, 2025. Gadola was appointed to the bench by former Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican.
Hall celebrated the order. “While ultimate Lansing insiders and Senate Democrats are desperate to protect their pork spending, House Republicans are fighting for hardworking taxpayers,” he said in a statement.
The lawsuit between the Michigan House and Whitmer’s administration marks the second high-stakes legal battle to emerge in a divided Lansing during Whitmer’s final stretch in office working with a Democratic-controlled Michigan Senate and GOP-controlled Michigan House that has at times seen bitter partisan feuds. In early 2025, the Michigan Senate sued the Michigan House over nine stalled bills passed by both chambers of the Legislature in 2024 that never made their way to Whitmer’s desk when Democrats still held power. Hall refused to transmit the legislation to Whitmer when he took the gavel, but the Michigan Supreme Court could soon deliver the final word on the ongoing legal saga.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Staff writer Paul Egan contributed to this report
Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GOP request to stop Whitmer admin from spending blocked funds granted
Reporting by Clara Hendrickson, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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