Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is responding to critics of her meetings with President Donald Trump by answering that they’ve yielded results. Whitmer, a Democrat serving her final term as governor, and widely considered a possible future presidential contender, says she still has fundamental disagreements with President Donald Trump. She also says face time with Trump, including a now-famously awkward Oval Office encounter, was worth it to win 21 new fighter jets heading to Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County.

The Michigan Public Radio Network spoke with the governor Wednesday about cutting a deal with a president with whom she’s had an adversarial relationship.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Rick Pluta: Why does this Selfridge deal matter, not just to Macomb County, not just to metro Detroit, but to the entire state of Michigan?

GW: Yeah, you know, this is a big deal. So the A-10, which is our fighter mission at Selfridge, is being retired. And the fighter mission matters because we think about Selfridge, it has an economic impact on the state of $850 million a year. There are 30,000 jobs in Michigan that are related to Selfridge directly. And so not having a fighter mission would be a huge problem, not just for Selfridge but for a defense economy that we’ve been building out, advanced manufacturing. We think about aerospace as well as bases in Grayling, Alpena, and in Battle Creek. This has a massive impact on the state of Michigan. So I’ve been working to try to get a new fighter mission at Selfridge every year since I’ve been elected governor, and my predecessors did, as well, and we got it done, 21 F-15 EXs. This is the cutting edge, state-of-the-art planes and it’s gonna have a generational impact on our economy.

RP: How did this come to be? Why now?

GW: Well, you know, after the election — I had been trying to get the Biden administration to do this — after the elections, I said, well, let’s keep going. I’m going to keep trying to work with the Trump administration to get it done. And I was at the National Governors Association dinner at the White House. I raised it at that first opportunity with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that night, as well as when I sat next to Donald Trump at the dinner, you know, and I’ve had many conversations and meetings with the president on this issue. I’ve been relentless on this and they were receptive. And despite the fact that we’ve got a lot of differences and we don’t agree on a lot of things, I take every opportunity to make the case for Michigan, whether it’s about tariffs, Asian carp, or ice storms. Selfridge has been a part of all those conversations every time, too.

RP: As you mentioned, you’ve said you will work with everyone, anyone, but you have gotten a lot of pushback from folks within the Democratic Party about your work with this president. Now that this Selfridge deal is done, what’s next? What are your plans for continuing to work with this administration?

GW: I oppose this administration and a lot of things that they’re doing, whether it’s around their — what they’ve done on — you know, I mean, it’s voluminous, the ways that we disagree, the things that we disagree on — from their tariff policy, the chaos that’s been leaked, to the violation of people’s civil rights, to the potential Medicaid cuts that are coming that are going to impact Michigan hospitals and Michiganders everywhere. That being said, I’ve got a duty to continue to try to get as much done for our state as I can. I’ve got to work with people that I don’t always agree with. I always have, and I always will, try to do what’s right for Michigan and that means continuing the conversation on preventing Asian carp from infiltrating the Great Lakes, getting relief for victims of the ice storm. It means continuing to work to try to get more economic development done in Michigan. So I will both fight back when I need to, and try to get Michigan’s priorities done wherever I can.

RP: Finally, Governor, do you think Democratic voters, that is voters in your party, know that you still fundamentally disagree with President Trump?

GW: Yeah, of course they do. My values haven’t changed. My oath is to serve the people of Michigan. It means standing up for our rights, it means fighting back when they’ve got tariff policies that are making Michiganders lose jobs or their costs go up. It also means getting at the table and being there to get a huge investment like Selfridge over the finish line. I can do both. I will do both, that’s the ethos I’ve always led with.

A case involving a frozen embryo that’s at the center of a divorce dispute will not be heard by the Michigan Supreme Court. The court declined the case in an order released Friday.

The Supreme Court order leaves in place an appeals court decision that awarded the embryo to ex-husband David Markiewicz. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in December of 2023 that he would get custody because he has the closest biological connection to the embryo and should not be forced to have another child with his ex-wife, Sarah Markiewicz. The appeals court panel divided on the question, with one judge ruling the embryo should go to the ex-wife.

Sarah Markiewicz became pregnant three times through in vitro fertilization. The embryo at issue in the court case, as in Sarah’s other IVF pregnancies, was made with the ex-husband’s sperm, while the egg was donated by the ex-wife’s sister. The couple also has one child conceived naturally.

Sarah Markiewicz argued for possession of the frozen embryo because it could be her final opportunity to have another child. She also argued she was entitled to the embryo under the Michigan Reproductive Freedom for All amendment to the state constitution.

David Markiewicz said earlier he would either have the embryo destroyed or donated for scientific use if he won the case.

“My client is very happy and relieved that he can now put this chapter behind him,” said his attorney, Trish Haas, in an email to Michigan Public Radio. “His disposition of the pre-embryo will now be his personal choice.”

The Supreme Court order was unsigned, but Justice Brian Zahra wrote a concurring statement calling on the Legislature to enact standards to avoid future conflicts as IVF becomes more common.

“Broadly speaking, the primary issue is how the law should classify and treat human embryos, frozen or otherwise, which, at a minimum, have the potential to develop into autonomous human beings,” he wrote. “This question implicates some of the most perplexing debates in society, invoking deep-seated and conflicting beliefs about morality, ethics, religion, human life, and personal autonomy.” 

The Republican chair of the Michigan House Oversight Committee has delivered a subpoena calling on Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to turn over materials related to training and managing elections.

The subpoena was authorized last week as Republicans complained the Democratic Secretary of State has refused for months to turn over the entirety of materials related to conducting elections.

“I got to tell you, only the guilty need to feel guilty,” Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay) told the Michigan Public Radio Network. “What is [it] that they’re afraid to provide to us?”

There are, in fact, two subpoenas — one names Benson and the other the Michigan Department of State.  But they are otherwise identical. They were transmitted electronically Tuesday via an official portal. The request sets a deadline of 4 p.m. on May 14. The Secretary of State’s office confirmed it had received the documents.

House Republicans and Benson, who is the state’s top election administrator, have been trading jabs for weeks related to materials requested by the House Elections Committee. The Oversight Committee is the only House panel that has subpoena power and so the subpoena had to go through that panel.

The information request is wide-ranging, but DeBoyer focused on training materials.

“What other way are they going to find out if the training that they’re providing to local clerks is in accordance with state election law,” he said. “If the Secretary of State won’t provide the training information, there’s no way to find out if they’re training them according to election law.”

Benson has accused House Republicans of stoking doubt about the security of Michigan elections while GOP leaders say slow-walking their requests does exactly that.

Benson has already provided some of the material and says much of what the committee asked for is sensitive and would compromise election security, so it must be vetted before sharing.

Benson Chief Communications Officer Angela Benander called the announcement “an unnecessary press release about a subpoena that’s also unnecessary.”

“As we’ve communicated multiple times, we are in the process of producing the requested training materials on top of the hundreds of documents we’ve already provided to the committee,” Benander said in an email to the Michigan Public Radio Network. “But we will not provide open access to sensitive information that could jeopardize the security of our elections, and we’re prepared to make this case in court.”

The state House is poised to vote on legislation this week to allocate $75 million toward recovery efforts in northern Michigan following the massive ice storm that swept through the region last month.

The damage includes downed trees and utility poles, damage to buildings and schools and businesses forced to close.

State Rep. Parker Fairbairn (R-Harbor Springs) told the Michigan Public Radio Network that some communities would be bankrupted if they had to shoulder the cleanup and recovery costs on their own.

“The signal to people at the end of the day is, we’re here to help,” he said. “I mean, we’re estimating somewhere between $200- and $300 million worth of damage. I think it’s going to be much more than that and there’s a lot of things we can’t really estimate right now.”

The $75 million appropriation would help leverage another $225 million in federal disaster funds. If approved this week by the House, it would still have to be approved by the Michigan Senate.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has declared a state of emergency across much of northern Michigan. She also asked President Donald Trump for a federal emergency declaration which would make the area eligible for more federal relief.

There was also a bill introduced last week that would lift minimum school instructional day requirements for schools located in counties covered by the governor’s winter storm emergency decree. Those counties include Alcona, Alpena, Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Crawford, Emmet, Mackinac, Montmorency, Oscoda, Otsego and Presque Isle.

Rep. Cam Cavitt (R-Cheboygan) said it does not make sense to require students to remain in school to make up days lost due to a natural disaster.

“Our students just went through one of the most horrifying storms they will ever experience,” said Cavitt in a written statement.

“Things have been hard…We need to take steps to help these kids and their families, not force them to sit in schools that lack air conditioning until July.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive directive Thursday calling on the state health department to create a report on how big proposed cuts to the federal Medicaid program would affect Michigan.

The executive directive instructs the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to create a report within 30 days detailing the effects of a congressional Republican proposal that could cut $880 billion from Medicaid over 10 years. Whitmer wants data and personal stories to help congressional Democrats shut down a Republican budget resolution if it includes Medicaid cuts. But she said it is already clear the impact in Michigan would be huge.

“Statewide, Medicaid covers 2.6 million people,” she said. “That’s over a quarter of our population. “That number includes a million children, nearly 170,000 seniors and 300,000 people with disabilities.”

Whitmer was flanked by health care workers as she signed the directive at a hospital in Royal Oak. She said hospitals, clinics and other providers would have to reduce services and find other ways to make up for lost funding if Medicaid is slashed.

Whitmer said rural hospitals, which are also large local employers, would likely be the hardest hit. She said using Medicaid cuts to extend tax cuts and reduce the federal budget is a bad deal for taxpayers.

“This won’t make government more efficient,” she said. “It’ll just raise your costs, eliminate local jobs and put lives in danger.”

Republican leaders have said they are not targeting Medicaid, but it is not clear how they would hit their rollback goals without big cuts to Medicaid and other entitlement programs.

“There’s simply no way to do it without drastic cuts to Medicaid,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor), who serves on the GOP-led congressional committee that is supposed to come up with health care cuts and savings. “And let me make this very clear, we will make sure every Republican is on record on what they are cutting.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she was caught by surprise last week to walk into the Oval Office for a meeting with President Donald Trump to find she was in a televised press conference.

The New York Times published a striking photo of Whitmer trying to hide her face behind a blue folder.

She told the Detroit Economic Club that people ask “what was going through your mind at that moment and it was ‘I don’t want my picture taken.’ That’s all it was. I kind of wish I hadn’t put a folder in front of my face, but whatever.”

Whitmer told the group in a luncheon address that she does not regret the visit because she was there to make an in-person ask for federal disaster assistance for Michigan following ice storms that left much of northern Michigan without power. She and the President also spoke about Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County and managing the invasive carp.

But Whitmer said she was also able to express her concern about tariff fights with Canada, which is Michigan’s largest trading partner.

“I do think that all of that is taking a toll on the relationship,” she said. “It’s one that I recognize is incredibly important to us as people and as Michiganders and to our economy. I’m going to do everything I can to keep it strong, but there’s no question it’s having a negative impact.”

Whitmer said she has been in touch with Ottawa Premier Doug Ford on the situation.

Whitmer also told the group she remains “in productive conversations” on getting a road funding deal with state legislative Republicans. She told the group her negotiation lines are setting money aside for economic development and not cutting funding for public safety.

That drew a rebuke from a key Republican lawmaker, who said cuts to public safety and housing are not part of the proposal the House GOP put on the table.

“We understand the importance and necessity of a bipartisan effort to get anything passed through our divided Legislature and ultimately signed into law without a veto from our Democrat governor,” said Rep. Pat Outman (R-Six Lakes), who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “We believe there is a compromise out there, and we are eager to find it before one more tire falls victim to a Michigan pothole.”

Regardless, a major sticking point in road funding negotiations is Whitmer’s desire to maintain a business attraction fund to help finalize economic development deals. 

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Thursday that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for 19- and-20-year-old defendants violate the state Constitution.

The majority decision by a divided Supreme Court held that the sentences constitute “unconstitutionally harsh and disproportionate punishment” and will require resentencing hearings for roughly 580 prisoners convicted of murder. This follows similar decisions recently by the Supreme Court affecting inmates handed automatic life-without-parole (LWOP) sentences for crimes committed when they were 16, 17 and 18.

“Mandatorily condemning such offenders to die in prison, without first considering the attributes of youth that late adolescents and juveniles share, no longer comports with the ‘evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society,’” wrote Justice Elizabeth Welch in the majority decision, adding that violates the cruel or unusual punishment clause of the Michigan Constitution. She also wrote, “We do not foreclose the possibility that LWOP could be an appropriate punishment under rare circumstances.”

Justice Richard Bernstein wrote in a separate opinion that he would draw the line at 25 years old, based on “a consensus of relevant scientific studies.”

But Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement said the majority focused too much on the offender versus the offense.

Clement wrote in her dissent that “the majority downplays the gravity of first-degree murder.” She said, “The premeditated taking of a life is an act of the highest moral and legal consequence. A punishment of great severity is therefore proportionate.”

The cases originated in Wayne and Genesee counties. Andrew Czarnecki was 19 years old and Montario Taylor was 20 years old when they were charged with first-degree murder in separate cases. Their appeals were combined because the constitutional questions were similar.

Attorney Maya Menlo with State Appellate Defender Office said research shows young adults and older teens are very similar and the Supreme Court’s decision in these cases reflects that.

“Adolescents have brains that are not fully developed, which results in them being more reckless and also more likely to rehabilitate,” she told Michigan Public Radio. “The court adopted the scientific consensus that 19- and 20-year-olds have the same reduced culpability and the same capacity for rehabilitation as people who are 18-year-olds and younger.”

Prosecutors say the decisions are also very painful for survivors who will have to relive their loved ones’ murders in resentencing hearings.

Jon Wojtala is the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office chief of appeals. He said the decision is not a surprise, but still “a gut punch” in part because it will require survivors to relive the tragedy of the violent loss of a loved one. He said Wayne County has more than 400 cases to deal with.

“We’re going to have to hustle very, very hard to get these cases to a point of having the resentencings and when we do have the resentencings, it’s a punch to the victims’ families, to the victims’ loved ones, to have to once again be traumatized,” he told Michigan Public Radio.

Wojtala says most of the resentencing hearings will have to take place within six months. He expects the state Supreme Court decision to be the final word.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spent Wednesday in Washington D.C. to deliver an address where she warned about the dangers of sweeping tariffs before heading to the White House for a meeting with President Donald Trump.

At an event held a couple of blocks from the White House, Whitmer — in a speech billed “Build, America, Build” — warned that tariffs are a tax that are passed along to consumers and would have sweeping affects across the economy.

Whitmer said Trump’s unilateral tariff orders would pose a particular threat to manufacturing states like Michigan that rely heavily on border-crossing supply chains.

“You can’t just pull out the tariff hammer to swing at every problem without a clear, defined end goal,” she said.  “We cannot underestimate or under-appreciate the time and capital it’s going to take to actually bring jobs and supply chains back home. So, there’s not a shortcut here.”

Whitmer also spoke about the need for cooperation in a sit-down with television journalist Gretchen Carlson.

Not long after that, Whitmer was at the White House for an Oval Office meeting with Trump and Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp.). There was none of the trash-talking reminiscent of the first Trump term when she described him as a threat to democracy and he famously called her “that woman from Michigan.”

In fact, Trump said the Democratic governor who’s often mentioned as a prospective presidential candidate has done an “excellent job.” Trump also paused some of the tariffs he had just ordered.

But Glenn Stevens Jr., the executive director of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s MichAuto, said the tariffs eased by Trump won’t provide much relief to Michigan’s automotive sector.

“The tariffs that are affecting our industry directly, and that is a stack-up of tariffs — the Canada-Mexico tariffs, the steel and aluminum tariffs, the imported vehicle and imported component tariffs — those are all still in place,” he told the Michigan Public Radio Network. “So, we’re still in the situation that we were.”

A Whitmer spokesperson called the pause “a step in the right direction” that “will provide relief to so many businesses across the state.”

Still, the aide said, “we remain concerned about tariffs that will hurt American auto companies.”

Watch a replay of the full address below.

U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township) will not seek reelection to Congress in 2026, running instead for Michigan governor.

The two-term U.S. House member posted his announcement on social media Monday

“It’s time to get Michigan out of fantasyland and back to common sense,” he said. “President Trump and I have been in each other’s corner through thick and thin for eight years — no reason that will end now.”

In a statement, the Democratic Governors Association took aim at James’ support for Trump.

“John James has spent his time in Congress putting his own extreme partisan politics first, and now he’s running to bring the chaos and dysfunction of D.C. to Michigan,” said the DGA.

The 10th Congressional District encompasses southern Macomb County and Rochester and Rochester Hills in Oakland County. It is a swing district and James’ decision gives Democrats a larger hope of flipping it in November.

James is currently the only Black member of Michigan’s congressional delegation. He previously lost two successive runs for a U.S. Senate seat — the 2020 race by a narrow margin — before running for and winning a U.S. House seat.

State Senate Republican leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township) and former U.S. House candidate Anthony Hudson have also announced they are seeking the GOP nomination. Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has also formed a campaign committee and 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon — who lost by more than 10 points — is considering another run for statewide office.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, cannot run again because of term limits.

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson are seeking the Democratic nomination in the August primary. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is also running as an independent. 

Environmental groups and tribal nations are asking the Michigan Supreme Court to put the brakes on a Canadian company’s plans to bury an oil and gas pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, a waterway that connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

The appeal filed Thursday asks the Supreme Court to reverse a decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals and a determination by the Michigan Public Service Commission to allow Enbridge to move ahead with the Great Lakes Tunnel project, which would encase the company’s Line 5 oil and gas pipeline. The plaintiffs claim the public service commission failed to perform a thorough review before giving its permission.

“These failures jeopardize the sanctity of the Great Lakes and the Tribal economic and cultural interests and treaty-protected rights, which are inherent rights, including ‘the usual privileges of occupancy’ — such as the rights to fish, hunt, and gather, in perpetuity,” the complaint said. “They also threaten to harm everyone who depends on the Great Lakes for drinking water, recreation, or economic benefit because all likely effects of the proposed project, including oil spills, have not been considered.”

The tribes argue the commission’s review failed to fully consider the consequences of leaks or a spill in a waterway that could lead to widespread contamination of the Great Lakes.

“If you take a step back and you do that holistic review and analysis, I think people would understand that there are alternatives that could lead to a decommissioning of Line 5 and wouldn’t have to construct this one-off tunnel through the Straits of Mackinac,” said David Gover, a senior attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, which represents the Bay Mills Indian Community.

Gover told the Michigan Public Radio Network the tunnel’s location also violates long-standing treaty rights and disrespects “a sacred place” for tribes.

“So, any proposed tunneling and running of a pipeline through that area is a desecration of that sacred place,” he said. “It would like be putting an oil and gas pipeline under the Vatican or through the Garden of Eden.”

Enbridge spokeperson Ryan Duffy said in a statement e-mailed to MPRN that the Michigan Public Service Commission and the appeals court got it right.

“The February decision from the Michigan Court of Appeals correctly affirmed the comprehensive and detailed work of the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to approve the application for the Great Lakes Tunnel Project,” he said. “The Michigan Court of Appeals concluded that the MPSC appropriately examined the location of the Line 5 replacement segment within the Great Lakes Tunnel, consistent with Michigan law.”

He said the tunnel will make “what has always been a safe pipeline even safer.”

Enbridge faces other legal and procedural hurdles, including state and federal permits and other lawsuits. The protective tunnel was part of a agreement between Enbridge and the then-Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration. That was following revelations of known gaps in the existing line’s protective coating and an anchor strike in 2018 that damaged the line.

More than 250 felons sent to prison for life with no chance of parole for crimes committed when they were 18 years old must have their sentences reviewed under a decision released Wednesday by the Michigan Supreme Court.

The unanimous 6-0 decision expands an earlier ruling that lifers convicted of first degree- or felony murder when they were younger than 18 are entitled to resentencing hearings. (Justice Kimberly Thomas recused herself from the case because she was involved in it before joining the Supreme Court in January.) “

The same will now apply to 18-year-olds.

“And at that resentencing, they’ll have the opportunity to demonstrate to the circuit court that they are rehabilitated and capable of rejoining society,” said attorney Maya Menlo with the State Appellate Defender Office.

She told the Michigan Public Radio Network that life without parole still remains an option.

“The prosecuting attorneys in each county will review the cases and will decide whether they want to pursue a sentence of life without parole, but we expect that that sentence will be extremely rare.”

Special Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Timothy Baughman said now prosecutors have to make some decisions on these cases.

“Prosecutors are going to have to look at them and determine, are we just going to accede to a resentencing to a term of years or is this one of the cases that we want to have a hearing on and argue that the defendant should still get life without parole? So there’s a lot of decisions that are going to have to be made by prosecutors,” he said.

The defendant is John Antonio Poole, who was 18 years old in 2002 when his uncle paid him $300 to shoot a man because his girlfriend owed him money. Poole is now 42 and being held at the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia.

In a related case, the state Supreme Court will rule soon on whether to expand the ruling to include lifers sentenced for crimes committed as 19- and 20-year-olds.

The new state law that lifts Michigan’s 38-year-old ban on paid surrogate pregnancy contracts took effect Monday.

Michigan banned the practice after a Dearborn attorney gained nationwide notoriety in the 1980s for arranging surrogate contracts.

Surrogate parenting was new, controversial and misunderstood when it first became an option, said Stephanie Jones with the Michigan Fertility Alliance.

“And I really think people have changed their outlook on this significantly since then and it’s just become more of a norm,” she told Michigan Public Radio. “People have become more aware of infertility and the need for assisted reproduction to grow your family. So, I think it’s just become more palatable over the years and we, of course, want to be able to support people who need this to grow their families.”

The newly effective laws outline the legal rights and obligations of all parties to a surrogate arrangement. That includes automatic parental rights for couples without having to adopt after a child is born.

Advocates say that makes the arrangements enforceable and predictable. But some conservatives and faith groups say the development is not a welcome one.

Michigan Catholic Conference Vice President for Public Policy and Advocacy Tom Hickson said the church believes infertile couples should consider foster parenting or adoption. He said allowing surrogates to be paid will lead to exploiting vulnerable young women.

“That was the No. 1 amendment that we tried to get in was to strike the compensation aspect of this,” he said. “I mean that just really minimizes the dignity of motherhood and childbirth into a sale and delivery mechanism.”

Michigan joins the vast majority of U.S. states in allowing compensated surrogacy contracts.

The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on whether the state’s felony murder sentencing standard is constitutional and what to do if it’s not.

In Michigan, people over 18 who is are of convicted of a felony such as armed robbery where someone is killed in the process are sentenced to life with no chance of parole.

In an order issued Friday, the court said the questions it will consider include whether life without parole for felony murder violates the Eighth Amendment, whether the state should require proof of malice or intent to commit murder in order to impose the sentence, and whether a decision might be applied retroactively.

The felony murder standard means prosecutors do not have to specifically prove malice or intent. If the court reverses that standard entirely or in part, it could affect the sentences of hundreds of inmates who’ve spent decades in prison.

Timothy Baughman with the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan told the Michigan Public Radio Network the challenge to that standard raises difficult questions. He said there are hundreds of inmates serving life without parole in Michigan.

“Should we overrule that and apply it to everybody who’s convicted and still in prison and alive,” said Baughman, “and some of those, they’re not like the getaway drivers, there are some very vicious murderers.”

But attorney Deborah LaBelle with the American Civil Liberties Union said some of the people convicted under the standard are not the actual killers even if they were involved in the underlying felony.

She said Michigan’s felony murder law is very sweeping in that it treats convicted killers and accomplices the same way when it comes to sentencing.

“If someone dies at the hands of someone else and you were in any way involved with the felony, the crime surrounding the homicide, you get punished the exact same way as the person who committed the murder.”

If the Supreme Court overrules its almost 50-year-old precedent, it would also have to determine the remedy.

“What should we do?” LaBelle said. “Should people be resentenced? Should there be a term of years that we determine is appropriate? How do we handle this?”

The court has not set a date for oral arguments.