, Detroit Free Press LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette wants the Michigan Supreme Court to halt a presidential recount in Michigan before it begins. In a court action filed today, Schuette echoes arguments made for President-elect Donald Trump, arguing Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who received just more than 1% of the vote in Michigan, is not an "aggrieved" candidate entitled to a recount, and there isn't time to complete a recount, even if Stein was entitled to one.
"If allowed to proceed, the statewide hand recount could cost Michigan taxpayers millions of dollars and would put Michigan voters at risk of being disenfranchised in the electoral college," Schuette, in a filing signed by Chief Legal Counsel Matthew Schneider, said in asking the Michigan Supreme Court for immediate consideration of his petition barring a recount.
Schuette, a Republican who is expected to run for governor in 2018, chaired the presidential campaign of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush before supporting Trump as the party nominee.
►Michigan's Board of Canvassers: Who are they? ►Related: What we know now about recount preparations
The Board of State Canvassers, which was to meet at 9:30 a.m. to consider Trump's protest to Stein's recount request, immediately took a one-hour recess. Shortly before 10:30 a.m., the board went into closed session to consider the Schuette legal action, before reconvening in public a few minutes later to consider the Trump protest.
Schuette sued Friday morning in both the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court, asking the Court of Appeals to streamline the appeals process by sending the case directly to the Michigan Supreme Court, on which Republican-nominated justices hold a 5-2 majority.
The board, which later deadlocked 2-2 on Trump's protest, meaning a hand recount of about 4.8 million Michigan presidential proceeds, is named as a defendant in Schuette's suit, along with state Elections Director Chris Thomas. The Court of Appeals has asked the board and Thomas to respond to Schuette's suit by noon Tuesday.
Mark Brewer, a Southfield attorney representing the Stein campaign, denounced Schuette's action as "unprecedented interference by a partisan attorney general on a matter that should be handled routinely by the Board of Canvassers."
Brewer, a former longtime chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said "the motivation is purely partisan," as Schuette "is a Trump supporter and he has ambitions of running for governor." He said Schuette "is trying to please his Republican constituency."
Brewer said he would have to consult with Stein, who is not a party to the lawsuit Schuette filed, to determine if he should intervene in the case on her behalf.
Stein issued a news release Friday afternoon that said: “We won’t stand down as Donald Trump and his allies seek to frivolously obstruct the legal processes set up to ensure the accuracy, security and fairness of our elections." She said that "by putting party politics above country, Trump is needlessly delaying what should be a routine verification of the democratic process."
John Pirich, an attorney for Trump, said he was unaware of the Schuette action until after it was filed.
►Related: How presidential recount, objections could unfold in Michigan
Under a "safe harbor" provision related to the Electoral College vote, the recount would have to be completed by Dec. 13, six days before the Electoral College is scheduled to meet.
"Even though Stein could have petitioned for the recount weeks ago, she waited until the last possible moment under state law to do so," Schuette told the court.
Brewer said Stein filed as soon as her campaign received needed precinct information — required to determine the exact amount of the fee she was required to pay — from state officials.
Fred Woodhams, a spokesman for the state Bureau of Elections, said Stein requested the precinct information Monday and received it Tuesday. Had she requested the information sooner, she could have received it sooner, he said.
Stein is seeking recounts in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
In Michigan, another group, affiliated with an anti-Hillary Clinton super PAC, also filed a lawsuit in Ingham County Circuit Court Friday to stop the recount.
The Committee to Defend the President, which used to be the Stop Hillary PAC, filed the suit asking for an injunction to stop the recount.
The group adopted many of the same arguments put forward by Trump, claiming that Stein had no reasonable grounds for asking for the recount because she received only 1.07% of the presidential vote in Michigan.
Ted Harvey, Chairman of Stop Hillary PAC, said in a statement that the “frivolous recount is not only unlawful, but a clear waste of taxpayer dollars.”
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Staff writer Kathleen Gray contributed.