Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon will continue his legal fight against a recall effort next week.
The Democrat from Wayne County's first bid to undo a court order that could result in a November recall election was rejected late Friday by a federal judge.
U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell ruled earlier this week that a Michigan law blocking some signatures gathered in support of the recall is unconstitutional because it violates political speech rights. The judge ordered state officials to re-examine the recall petitions to see if there are enough valid signatures to make the ballot.
Dillon asked Bell to reconsider the ruling, but Bell rejected that motion Friday. Mark Fisk, a consultant helping Dillon fight the recall, said an appeal will be filed as early as Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Attorneys for Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land also have filed a document signaling the intent to appeal Bell's ruling.
Dillon was targeted for recall because of his leadership role in raising taxes last year as Michigan worked its way out of a budget crisis.
The key question is whether signatures from voters inside Dillon's district should be counted even if they were collected by petition circulators who live outside the district or weren't registered to vote. Michigan law says those signatures shouldn't be counted, but Bell wrote that the law violates First Amendment rights.
Recall supporters need 8,724 valid signatures to make the ballot. State election officials ruled they were 776 signatures short earlier this year and didn't allow the recall question to go on the August ballot. Michigan courts upheld the decision.
But recall supporters say the new federal ruling could make about 2,000 more signatures valid. That could give the group enough valid signatures to make the ballot.
Dillon supporters could question the validity of signatures for other reasons -- if they have time. Deadlines for printing ballots are fast approaching.
Dillon supporters say they should get time to challenge the signatures because recall backers used fraud and forgery in their campaign. Michigan State Police are investigating the fraud allegations.
Recall supporters filed nearly 16,000 signatures with state election officials, but thousands were thrown out for a variety of reasons.
Dillon already is up for re-election on the November ballot.