In a 6-1 decision, many of the justices said it wasn't possible to communicate in a 100-word summary what the 19,000-word ballot proposal would do.
The Supreme Court also turned down leave to appeal other issues in the case.
Dianne Byrum, a spokeswoman for the Reform Michigan Government Now proposal, called the decision "judicial activism at its worst."
"It's very unfortunate that the court has blocked the people of Michigan from deciding this important ballot proposal for themselves," she told The Associated Press. The group could go to federal court over two justices' refusal to disqualify themselves from hearing the case. The justices said Monday in their ruling that they were required to participate in the case. Byrum said her group has not made a decision on what to do next, but no options have been ruled out.
A federal case would be interesting, but would it be worth the time and effort? We will see if they want to put the $$ into that - but it sure seems like there are better things to do with the money and energy at this point in time. A certain election coming up, for example.
Face it - it was too much. And the sad thing is, if not for the over-reach, we could have had a great proposal that would have passed easily and achieved much-needed reforms that are currently being obstructed by certain people in Lansing.
Hard lesson learned.