Granholm seeks high court ruling on mayor

DETROIT, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm asked the state's Supreme Court to quickly decide if she has the right to consider removing Detroit's mayor from office.

Granholm, in a letter to the Michigan Supreme Court, asked the judges to immediately take up a lawsuit in which embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is challenging her right under the state's constitution to have hearings aimed at his removal from office, the Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, a Wayne County judge ruled against Kilpatrick, saying Granholm hadn't shown personal bias against him and was empowered to begin removal hearings. Kilpatrick's lawyers quickly appealed the decision but Granholm is requesting the Supreme Court immediately consider the case, leap-frogging the Michigan Court of Appeals, the newspaper said.

"As governor, I submit that this constitutional challenge involves a controlling question of public law of such public moment as to require early and final determination by the Michigan Supreme Court," Granholm wrote.

"Under the governor's authority … she can ask the Supreme Court to take it," Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd told the Free Press. "To have the definitive once and for all."