Nessel was sworn into office on January 1, 2019.[15] She is the first openly LGBTQ person elected to statewide office in Michigan.[16][17] She is the first Democrat to serve as attorney general since Jennifer Granholm left the office in 2003, sixteen years earlier to become the new Michigan Governor.[18]
Nessel immediately withdrew Michigan from eight federal lawsuits initiated by Schuette involving the separation of church and state, LGBTQ discrimination, environmental protection, and abortion.[19]
Hate Crimes Unit
After a rise of hate crimes in Michigan for two years in a row, Nessel launched a Hate Crimes Unit within the Criminal Division of the Department of Attorney General.[20] Before Nessel took office, the Michigan Department of Attorney General did not have any personnel assigned solely to the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.[21]
Conviction Integrity Unit
Nessel launched a new Conviction Integrity Unit within the Department of Attorney General's Criminal Appellate Division. The unit investigates credible claims of innocence and rectifies wrongful convictions. To do this, officials work with county prosecutors, law enforcement officials, defense attorneys, and innocence clinic projects.[22]
Consumer Protection Division
Under her Consumer Protection Division, Nessel launched the state's first Payroll Fraud Enforcement Unit to investigate Michigan establishments that illegally misclassify workers or withhold wages and benefits.[23] She also established the Department's Auto Insurance Fraud Unit, which received over 3,000 cases in four months.[24]
Keeping her promise to protect and defend consumers and ratepayers, Nessel saved utility customers $3.6 million after intervening in SEMCO Energy's gas recovery plan case. As of the end of 2019, Nessel has helped save Michigan utility ratepayers a combined $355,809,700.[25]
Elder Abuse Task Force
In collaboration with the Michigan Supreme Court, Nessel launched the Michigan Elder Abuse Task Force to combat physical abuse, financial exploitation, emotional abuse, and neglect of senior citizens. Nearly 50 different organizations including law enforcement, state agencies, the Michigan House of Representatives, Michigan Senate, Michigan Congressional delegation, and advocacy groups, have joined the task force. The task force initiatives include requiring professional guardians to become certified, developing statutory basic rights for families, reviewing the process of a guardian removing a ward from their home, and limiting the number of wards per guardian.[26]
Michigan state COVID-19 pandemic policy
In March 2021, Nessel decided not to launch a criminal investigation into the impact of Governor Gretchen Whitmer's coronavirus pandemic policy of placing elderly patients who tested positive for COVID-19 in the same nursing home facilities as patients who did not contract coronavirus.[27] At the time of Nessel's decision, an estimated 35% of all Michigan coronavirus deaths had occurred in long-term care facilities.[28] The Michigan state government had been accused of underreporting deaths from COVID-19 that had occurred in long-term care facilities, and had denied freedom of information requests to investigate the matter. The Michigan Office of the Auditor General later reviewed the state's coronavirus data and found that the long-term care facility coronavirus death count up to July 2021 had underreported deaths in these facilities by 42%, while Governor Whitmer denies the findings in the audit.[29] Auditor General Doug Ringler claimed that his office "didn't feel the word 'underreport' was fair. We cited it as a difference."[30]
Robocall crackdown effort
Nessel started a statewide campaign to crack down on illegal robocalls targeting Michigan residents. This campaign includes initiatives to educate the public, toughen enforcement, and update state law.[31] As of March 2020, over 2,400 caller complaints of illegal robocalls had been received by Nessel's office.[32]
On March 2, 2023, Nessel announced that she was among several Jewish government officials targeted in antisemitic threats made on social media by a heavily armed Michigan man.[33] Jack Eugene Carpenter III, of Tipton, Michigan, was charged in federal court with transmitting an interstate threat, a felony. Carpenter was accused of tweeting from Texas in February 2023: "I'm heading back to Michigan now threatening to carry out the punishment of death to anyone that is jewish in the Michigan govt if they don't leave, or confess."[34][35] Carpenter possessed three handguns, a shotgun, two rifles, and was under investigation for stealing a handgun, according to federal prosecutors.[36] Commenting on the threat on Twitter, Nessel stated: "It is my sincere hope that the federal authorities take this offense just as seriously as my Hate Crimes & Domestic Terrorism Unit takes plots to murder elected officials."[37]
High-profile cases and investigations
Catholic Church investigation
Nessel took over the department's investigation into Catholic Church sexual abuse cases from her predecessor, Bill Schuette. As of December 2019, the Department of Attorney General has received 641 tips on its clergy abuse hotline, identified 270 priests alleged to be abusers from dioceses in Marquette, Gaylord, and Grand Rapids, and received allegations involving 552 victims of clergy sexual abuse since the beginning of the investigation.[38][39] So far, 1.5 million paper documents and 3.5 million electronic documents have been seized. The investigation team has reviewed 130 cases for potential charges, 50 of which were closed because the statute of limitations barred prosecution or the priest in question had died. Twenty-five cases have been referred back to the diocese for action because the priests were in active ministry.[39]
In a February 2019 news conference, Nessel accused Catholic Church leadership of failing to cooperating with law enforcement, and criticized them for encouraging some victims to sign confidential settlements or nondisclosure agreements. Nessel told church officials to stop "self-policing" sexual abuse within the church and to encourage victims to talk with state investigators, adding "If an investigator comes to your door and asks to speak with you, please ask to see their badge and not their rosary."[40] Some criticized Nessel for the "rosary" statement, viewing it as an insensitive barb against a devotional practice.[41][42][43]
In October 2020, Nessel released interim report with results of her office's two-year investigation; the office's report accused 454 priests of sexually abusing 811 people in the state of Michigan across all seven dioceses.[44] Eleven priests were charged in Michigan with sex crimes from 2019 onward: several pleaded guilty, with extradition proceedings against others were pending.[44] In October 2022, Nessel released a detailed report on allegations of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Marquette, listing abuse allegations, dating back to 1950, against 44 priests.[45][46] This is the first of seven diocese-by-diocese final reports that the AG's Office plans to release.[46]
Michigan State University investigation
After the Larry Nassar scandal, Nessel's office launched an investigation into Michigan State University (MSU). Nessel charged two former university employees and one former university employee. Kathie Klages, the head coach for MSU's gymnastics team while Nassar was team doctor; Lou Anna Simon, who was MSU president during the investigation (and remains an MSU professor); and William Strampel, former dean of the MSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine.[47] Strampel, who as dean was a former boss of Nasser, was convicted in a jury trial of one felony count of misconduct in office and two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty,[47] and an appeals court upheld the convictions in 2021.[48] Klages was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2018 and sentenced to 90 days in jail, but the Michigan Court of Appeals vacated the conviction in 2022 on a 2–1 vote.[49][50] The charges against Simon were dismissed in 2020; Nessel's office appealed, but a Michigan Court of Appeals panel unanimously upheld the dismissal in 2022; in a concurring opinion, Judge Elizabeth L. Gleicher criticized the investigation into Simon as a "sham" and wrote that the former university president was a "scapegoat" and "high profile target, selected to assuage public anger rather than to protect the integrity of the law."[51]
In 2019, Nessel said her department is at an impasse with MSU as they continue to withhold more than 6,000 documents under the claim of attorney-client privilege. Nessel, survivors, and activists continue to call on the university to release the documents.[47] In 2023, the MSU board of trustees voted against waiving privilege over the documents.[52]
Enbridge Line 5 lawsuits
In 2018, Michigan passed legislation approved under former Governor Rick Snyder codifying an agreement between the state and Enbridge Energy to replace the Enbridge Line 5, sitting on the lakebed underneath the Straits of Mackinac with a tunnel below the bedrock. Despite a judge's ruling upholding the law in March 2019,[53] Nessel issued an opinion that month stating the law was unconstitutional “because its provisions go beyond the scope of what was disclosed in its title."[54] After Enbridge filed a lawsuit, a Michigan Court of Claims judge ruled in favor of Enbridge and rejected Nessel's reasoning, stating, "the argument advanced by defendants misses the mark."[55]
Upon appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals, Nessel's request to overturn the Court of Claims decision was denied and her opinion was again overruled, allowing Enbridge to continue work on the tunnel and requiring the state to process the necessary permits.[56]
In June 2019, Nessel filed suit independently in Ingham County Circuit Court, seeking an order requiring Line 5 to shut down (permanently decommission) "after reasonable notice"; the suit argues that the operation of Line 5 violates the public trust doctrine, is a common-law public nuisance, and violates the Michigan Environmental Protection Act because of its likeliness to cause pollution to and destruction of the Great Lakes and other natural resources. The attorneys general of Minnesota, Wisconsin and California have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of Nessel's lawsuit.[57] In 2021, the case was removed to federal court.[58] Proceedings were delayed while the parties battled over whether the suit would be heard in state or federal court; in August 2022, a federal judge ruled that the case would be heard in federal court.[59]
PFAS contamination lawsuit
In January 2020, Nessel filed suit against seventeen companies, including 3M and DuPont, alleging the toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemical manufacturers “intentionally hid” known health and environmental risks from the public and state while continuing to sell the PFAS chemicals since the 1950s. The suit seeks to hold the companies financially responsible for all past and future costs associated with the contamination at dozens of sites across the state of Michigan.[60]
Flint Water Crisis investigation
Campaign
While campaigning to become Attorney General for Michigan, Nessel made a series of statements regarding the Flint Water Crisis and its investigation leading up to the 2018 Michigan Attorney General election which took place on November 6, 2018.
On April 4, 2018, then-candidate Nessel met with community members at the Flint Public Library and spoke with NBC 25, a local television station which serves Flint and the Tri-Cities area. If elected, Nessel said she would not be held to corporate interests, and would protect the citizens of Flint. "The last thing we need is to have people in government that poison their own residents, that engage in cover-ups, or who use a terrible incident like that to politicize the office of attorney general and use it for their own personal gain. We need someone who just cares about our state residents once again and that’s what I want to do,” said Nessel.[61]
On October 12, 2018 Nessel told WDET-FM, a public radio station in Detroit, she "did not believe that these cases have been handled correctly.” Nessel hinted at the possibility of withdrawing or dismissing charges, saying "whether or not there are bad actors that should have been charged or not, including the governor, I think that has to be reevaluated and reexamined,” she says.[62]
Nessel had told the Macomb Daily on October 18, 2018 she "could see [the potential for expanded prosecutions]" and "did not agree with the way the prosecutions [had] unfolded." Nessel cited her opposition to Todd Flood, a prominent donor to then Governor Rick Snyder, being named as the crisis' special prosecutor who would potentially investigate Snyder.[63]
That same day, Nessel had told Michigan Radio she was "suspect of [the Flint] investigation quite frankly from the beginning. Nessel felt "political expediency was being prioritized instead of justice." As Attorney General, she said she would "take a second look at the investigation, make certain that all of the people who have charges pending have been charged properly and look to see if there’s anyone who should have been charged, but who hasn’t been."[64]
In a series of three videos produced and released between September and October 2018 by her campaign, "Dana Nessel For Michigan Attorney General," Nessel stood before Michigan's waterways and promised a tough stance on justice for the city of Flint along with committing to other protections regarding clean water for Michiganders.[65]
Dismissal of charges
After assuming office and taking over the investigation of the Flint Water Crisis from former Attorney General Bill Schuette, Nessel announced that she would be handling the settlements of the 79 Flint civil lawsuits while Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy would handle the criminal cases.[66]
On June 13, 2019, Michigan Attorney General Nessel's office dismissed all pending criminal cases tied to the Flint water crisis. Under Michigan's previous attorney general, a Republican, 15 people were charged with crimes related to the water crisis. Several pleaded no contest and were convicted. Prosecutorial overreach possibly tainting the judicial process plagued the investigation from the beginning.[67]
The dismissal effectively ended prosecutions of eight current and former officials accused of neglecting their duties and allowing Flint residents to drink tainted, dangerous water. Children of Flint drank poisoned water with dangerous quantities of lead. At least 12 people died in a Legionnaires’ outbreak that prosecutors linked to the water change. Among the officials whose charges were dropped: the former director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, a state epidemiologist, a former Flint public works director and emergency managers who had been appointed to oversee the city. Some defendants had faced charges as serious as involuntary manslaughter. The defence lawyer for Howard Croft, the former Flint public works director who was charged with involuntary manslaughter, said the "attorney general’s decision validated his concerns about the investigation" and credited Nessel's "courage" in deciding to dismiss all criminal charges.[67]
The decision to dismiss all charges was met with considerable outrage from Michiganders, clean water activists, and residents of Flint, the latter who felt their crisis was being forgotten. Prosecutors Fadwa Hammoud and Kym Worthy, who oversaw the case, blamed missteps by the previous prosecution team for their office's decision, citing "immediate and grave concerns about the investigative approach and legal theories." Hammoud and Worthy noted they were not precluded from refiling charges against the defendants or adding new charges and defendants.[67]
Nessel defended her prosecutors’ decision to drop the charges, but also sought to assuage the concerns of Flint residents, stating "justice delayed is not always justice denied."[67]
Nessel has since opened the first ever satellite location of the Attorney General's Office in Flint. Two victim advocates reside in the office along with the Flint Water Crisis prosecution team.[68]
Opioid manufacturers lawsuit
Nessel filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state of Michigan in December 2019 against opioid distributors using a law to pursue drug dealers. Nessel said that Michigan is the first state to sue drug manufacturers in this way. The companies involved in the suit are Illinois-based Walgreens, Ohio-based Cardinal Health Inc., Texas-based McKesson Corporation, and Pennsylvania-based AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation. According to the suit, the defendant drug companies sold opioids “in ways that facilitated and encouraged their flow into the illegal, secondary market” without proper safeguards, and they failed to monitor or report suspicious orders, including by knowingly selling pain pills to so-called pill mills. The damages against the defendants are projected to exceed $1 billion.[69]
St. Vincent adoption agency lawsuit
Shortly after taking office, Nessel changed state policy to require that contracts with adoption agencies refusing to work directly with LGBT couples be terminated; previously, such agencies had been allowed (and been required) to refer LGBT couples to different adoption agencies. The St. Vincent adoption agency, a Catholic organization, sued Nessel, asking to be allowed to continue operating under state contract as before the new policy. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker ruled in favor of the adoption agency, writing that "the state's new position targets St. Vincent's religious beliefs."[70] Nessel requested a stay of the ruling, but Jonker denied this as well, stating, "the state has offered nothing new and has failed to come to grips with the factual basis on the preliminary injunction record that supports the inference of religious targeting in this case."[71] In March 2022, the state agreed to pay $550,000 to reimburse St. Vincent's legal fees, along with an additional $250,000 to Catholic Charities of West Michigan, also to reimburse legal fees in a similar case.[72]
Affordable Care Act lawsuit
Shortly after assuming office, Nessel joined a coalition of other attorneys general in a lawsuit to support the Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Nessel cites the “hundreds and thousands” of residents in Michigan who would lose access to healthcare, particularly those with pre-existing conditions, as her reason for joining the suit.[73] The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the PPACA in 2021.[74]
Trump fake electors plot
Nessel announced in January 2022 that after a months-long inquiry into the Michigan participants in the Trump fake electors plot, she had closed down the state probe and asked the U.S. Justice Department to open a criminal investigation. Deputy U.S. attorney general Lisa Monaco confirmed days later that the Justice Department was examining the matter.[75][76] Nessel announced in January 2023 that she was reopening her investigation "because I don't know what the federal government plans to do."[77]
On July 18, 2023, Nessel announced that she had charged sixteen individuals with eight felony counts each, including forgery. According to Nessel, these individuals had knowingly signed a false certificate of ascertainment claiming to be the "duly elected and qualified electors" for Michigan.[78]
Personal life
Nessel met her wife Alanna Maguire while they were both working on the legal case DeBoer v. Snyder, which was ultimately successful in striking down Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage. Nessel proposed to Maguire in 2015 outside of the United States Supreme Court. The couple married in July 2015 with the marriage being officiated by Judge Bernard Friedman, the judge who had originally struck down Michigan's same-sex marriage ban in March 2014.[79]
Nessel and Maguire have twin sons, Alex and Zach, who attend Michigan State University.[80] She identifies as a person of Jewish Faith.
^ abcRollin, Wendy (July 20, 1990). "Funny Girls: Dana Nessel". Detroit Jewish News. Detroit, MI. p. 24. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
^"Making History". Alumni News + Notes. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Alumni Association. Summer 2015. Retrieved July 19, 2023. The Court consolidated cases from four different states, says Dana Nessel, '90, one of the attorneys handling the case, and will decide two different questions.
▌2 Unknown (2 territories) An asterisk (*) indicates that the officeholder is serving in an acting capacity. State abbreviations link to position articles.
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