Dana Nessel, Michigan's brash attorney general, plows through Lansing
Since taking office in January, the Democrat, who first made a splash in 2017 by citing the benefits of electing an AG without a penis, has come out swinging in an effort to turn her liberal politics into policy. She’s systematically reversed the state’s legal posture on abortion, the environment and LGBTQ rights set by her conservative predecessor Bill Schuette; joined other states in challenging Trump administration policies; thrown shade at the lawmaking skills of state Republicans, and, for good measure, taken on the Catholic church.
At the Planned Parenthood event, Nessel listed several cases she’s joined protecting abortion rights at the federal and state level, and promised this: If Roe v Wade — the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court establishing a right to abortion — is overturned, “I will never prosecute a woman or her doctor for making the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy.”
Political observers say such remarks underscore Nessel’s commitment as the state’s top lawyer to implementing progressive policies, decorum be damned. Though she lauds former Democratic Attorney General Frank Kelley, she eschews his generation’s carefully measured legal declarations; preferring the unapologetic partisan activism that is becoming the norm among many attorneys general, both Democratic and Republican, across the nation.
“Dana Nessel isn’t for everybody, and that’s okay by her,” said TJ Bucholz, a Democratic strategist and president of Lansing-based Vanguard Public Affairs. “Not everyone likes her style. And it’s not that her style’s wrong, it’s just different. It’s different than any attorney general we’ve ever had.”
https://www.bridgemi.com/public-sector/dana-nessel-michigans-brash-attorney-general-plows-through-lansing
