Street Democracy, with Detroit Justice Center, ACLU of Michigan, Michigan State Planning Body, and Legal Services Association of Michigan, filed an amicus brief arguing that MCL 769.1k(1)(b)(iii) — which lets Michigan trial courts fund their own operations by charging costs to criminal defendants — is unconstitutional. The law hands judges a legislative function: deciding how much revenue their court needs, then collecting it from the people in front of them. It also creates a financial stake in convictions that violates due process.
The Court of Appeals upheld the law, reasoning that Johnson hadn't shown a "direct correspondence" between his conviction and the revenue it generated for his specific court — a standard that ignores the statute's whole design, which ties court survival to how much it collects from the people it convicts. The Michigan Supreme Court reviewed Johnson concurrently with the companion case Edwards, denying leave to appeal in both on July 7, 2023.