Court Temporarily Freezes FY 2024-25 Hidden Earmarks For Baseball Fields

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/12/2026) A judge on Tuesday blocked Michigan from sending more taxpayer money to two baseball stadium projects, ruling the earmarks may have violated the state Constitution because they lacked the required supermajority support in the Legislature.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy challenged the “community enhancement grants” and other earmarks inserted into the state budget bills, which the center argued needed two-thirds support in both the House and Senate.

“This ruling is a major victory for Michigan taxpayers and the rule of law,” said Patrick Wright, vice president for legal affairs at the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. “The Michigan Constitution is clear: Lawmakers cannot funnel taxpayer dollars to favored projects and private interests without meeting the constitutional supermajority requirement.”

Court of Claims Chief Judge Michael F. Gadola’s injunction stops further payments from the challenged grant funding until the court reaches a final decision on the merits.

At the time of a September hearing, the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) had disbursed about $200,000 of the $1.5 million in grant funding to Jimmy John’s Field in Utica, but had not executed a grant agreement or disbursed funds to Jackson Field in Lansing.

The lawsuit, filed in 2025 against LEO, alleged the state budget broke the law because it allocated money toward the two baseball stadiums without getting the required amount of support from lawmakers.

LEO challenged the justiciability of the center’s claims, but remained neutral on the constitutionality of the appropriation.

Gadola, who sits on the appeals bench, held that two types of grants do not count as local-purpose grants – grants tied to statewide systems, like highways, and grants for major cultural institutions, like the Detroit Institute of Arts.

However, one-year appropriations that mainly benefit a local community – such as the ballfield grants – would still need a two-thirds vote in both legislative chambers.

“Because the grants in question did not receive a two-thirds vote in either House, a likelihood exists that plaintiff can establish that the two grants were unconstitutional,” Gadola’s 22-page opinion reads.

Jimmy John’s Field is owned by GS Entertainment and is home to four regional baseball teams that make up the United Shore Professional Baseball League. The 4,500-seat ballpark, located off the M-59 highway near the border of Macomb and Oakland counties, intends to use the grant to improve the facility.

Jackson Field, operated by the Lansing Entertainment & Public Facilities Authority, is an 11,000-seat, municipally-owned stadium where the Lansing Lugnuts play.

Judge Brock Swartzle, who also sits on the appeals court bench, heard arguments in the Mackinac Center’s lawsuit in September, but he no longer hears Court of Claims cases and was reassigned to Gadola.