Michigan State Police Begins Removing Sex Offenders from Registry to Comply with Michigan Supreme Court Order
“On September 9, 2026, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the 2021 Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) amendments cannot be used to retroactively extend the registration requirements of anyone who committed their relevant crime prior to July 1, 2011, because doing so would be unconstitutional,” said Col. James F. Grady II, director of the Michigan State Police (MSP). “The MSP did not make this change to the law. However, the department maintains the database, is required to comply with the Court’s order and is taking the necessary steps to implement the ruling. Any concerns about or efforts to change the law should be directed to the state Legislature.”
At the time of the order, approximately 43,000 offenders were actively registered or required to be registered. As of Friday, September 11, the MSP has removed more than 20,000 offenders.
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Hello everyone, I was convicted in Florida in 2001 (1999 Offense date). I currently live in Michigan. Relocated to Michigan for work in June 2026. I was removed from the Michigan registry from the recent decision in People v Eddie Lee Smith. I was in the process of developing 2 constitutional claims (one on ex post facto and one based on Kardasz 4 factors for gross disproportionality of punishment). I was in the process of waiting for my risk assessment report that I just interviewed for when this ruling came down. This is a huge win. And I’m preparing to share my lessons learned and legal research I did for my case in Michigan to hopefully provide some additional insights to the FAC’s case FAC vs Glass et al.
From your comment, it sounds like people with pre-2011 convictions could move to Michigan and not have to register, or have I totally misunderstood the implications of this decision?
Un, I pray for that day to come here in FL. Mine case was from april 2004. Now with a wife a family of two kids …… I pray I’ll stay alive long enough to see them grow up.
I’ve been saying for a long time that this day would come when thousands would be removed from the registry. The registry in Michigan has been effectively cut in half by the Michigan Supreme Court. A bunch of naysayers here said it would never happen. They were adamant that they were “right”. Now look who’s “right”.
@Detroit, it’s not about this is right and who is wrong., but if you want to go there, I distinctively remember about 4 years ago you saying that the outcome of Does 2 will result in thousands of us coming off the registry
That never happened.
Then you disappeared until this Michigan Supreme Court ruling homes out and want to pay yourself on the back like you had something to do with it.
You didn’t.
This MSC case completely blindsided a lot of people, because while we are awaiting the decision in Does 3, this ruling comes down a week ago and by Friday over 20000 are removed from Michigan’s registry.
Let’s not play the “I told you so” game, but instead celebrate the freedom of over 20000 people
Former Michigan PFR:
I can’t respond to your comment because the moderators refuse to post my response.
1. Why would the state not decide to immediately appeal and pause MSP from removing registrants from the registry.
a. Were they informed that to bring this to SCOTUS with the data behind this it could force them to review the what they used in the original case that ruled the registry not punishment.
Because the Michigan Supreme Court held that Michigan SORNA violates both the United States and the Michigan Constitutions. While the Supreme Court of the United States can reverse the portion of the order interpreting the U.S. Constitution, under principles of federalism it is without the power to reverse a state Supreme Court decision interpreting its own state constitution unless there is a conflict between the state constitution and the United States constitution, which there is not here. This comes down to a question of interpreting the meaning of “ex post facto law,” which can have different meanings under state constitutions and the U.S. Constitution. In fact, it is often the case that state constitutions provide greater protections of civil rights than the U.S. Constitution. A good example is Pennsylvania and its line of PA SORNA cases, some of which rested on a right to reputation found in the PA constitution but not the U.S. constitution.
Also, there is no direct “appeal” of a state supreme court ruling. The State of Michigan can only petition for a writ of certiorari, which SCOTUS can then grant or deny. Granting the writ doesn’t overrule the decision, but allows the petitioner to seek further review. Over 99% of all petitions for cert. are denied by SCOTUS each year.
The Michigan State Police sent us letters months ago to inform registrants that they expected changes to the law pending the appeal by the state in the Federal case. The case brought here in the Michigan Supreme Court WAS pursuant to an appeal that the State of Michigan was party to. The state may decide to appeal the decision to federal court, but they couldn’t do so until the decision was rendered. I give credit to the State Police for acting quickly here. But we have been disappointed before several times.
The State of Michigan was a party in the case. They couldn’t appeal until the decision was issued. It was the quick action by the Michigan State Police that caught the state by surprise. There was no specific order in the Court’s decision directing the State Police to remove everyone who might be affected. But because every other registry case the past few years has been going against the state, I think that the Michigan State Police decided to do the right thing and obey the laws of the land without any more delay. Police aren’t stupid. They know from experience that registry laws do nothing to make society safer.
Dram:
Michigan has been appealing these various court decisions for more than 10 years. This order is simply something Michigan has been putting off for ten years. They are all out of arguments plus Michigan’s AG Dana Nessel has already agreed that Michigan’s registry is punishment.
We can utilize this victory as a win. Try to find the perfect plaintiff who committed a crime before 2011 in Michigan recently came here for vacation and now can sue to be removed from the Florida registry.
At this point Florida will have to defend itself as to why a person who no longer resides in the state is still being considered high risk even though the state of Michigan doesn’t and they no longer live in Florida.
Florida would have to explain how their registry is not punishment when it in facts put more restraints on the registrants than Michigan does.
I would say that this is another crack in the dam of bringing down the registry, but this is a huge. Now every State Supreme Court case can site this Michigan case as showing the registry is in fact punishment that you can’t add on new statues after new statues.
Now every case will have to show burden of proof as to why their state registry differs from Michigans.
Will this victory in Michigan help registrants in Florida 🙏🏽
Hi Psalms,
It will not directly as this is the MI Supreme Court. However, it can be used persuasively in Florida. Brick by brick. The only place they could go would be the SCOTUS, but they already refused to hear the case in Doe V Snyder 6th circuit court. But they will have to eventually hear a case maybe its FAC’s case here in Florida.
Psalms 91:
It will help them if they move to Michigan.
Under current Florida law, if the only reason Florida required registration was due to an out-of-state registration requirement, then Michigan removal could allow for removal in Florida. However, that would only be possible if the Michigan offense requiring (former) registration in Michigan is not also a registerable offense in Florida. An example could be a misdemeanor sex offense in Michigan that requires registration there when no similar crime exists in Florida, or the Florida offense does not require registration. There are no Florida misdemeanors that require registration, only felonies. That’s not the case in every state.
Debs:
Michigan has AG Dana Nessel who supports our position. Every other AG in this country will fight us tooth and nail.
It was a unanimous judicial decision and that wasn’t the only aspect. While not applying to many other states the precident could. I’ve emailed you a letter from th ACLU regarding the decision. I can post it here or if you check your email may find more relevant or interesting material including the ACLU attorneys caveat that while the State Police are acting on it currently there is nothing to stop the legislature from trying to do another Hail Mary law (which they e done many regarding th Does case) or trying some new fangled multi- layer nee fangled registry in a registry scheme…PS .. Hopefully they don’t but the state has proven very resilient in its efforts to continually break the law and subvert the courts .