Michigan Justices Bless Own Covid-19 Filing Deadline Extension

The Michigan Supreme Court said Monday that a decision it made in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic to extend new lawsuit filing deadlines was constitutional.

The 5-2 ruling means that hundreds of lawsuits filed across the state by litigants who took advantage of the relaxed filing deadlines don’t have to be dismissed on timeliness grounds.

The majority justified its actions by saying that a pair of administrative orders issued in 2020, designed to run in tandem with executive orders Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) issued for the pandemic, “affected the counting of the relevant time period.” The court’s powers ...