oral arguments in a federal lawsuit charging mcri and the state of michigan with violating the voting rights act of 1965 were heard on august 17, 2006 with attorneys presenting their closing arguments on the morning of august 18, 2006. the case was heard by u.s. district court judge arthur tarnow, who promised to rule on the matter by september 8, 2006, to give officials enough time to print up the ballot. during the first day of the hearing, hundreds of protesters picketed outside the courthouse chanting among other things, "racist fraud, hell no! mcri has got to go!" the lawsuit was filed by operation king's dream, detroit mayor kwame kilpatrick, detroit city council, american-arab anti discrimination committee, michigan legislative black caucus, keep the vote no takeover, afscme locals 207, 312, and 2920, and uaw 2200 as well as several individual voters. michigan governor jennifer granholm submitted an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs.