The ACLU of Michigan has filed a federal lawsuit against the state and the city of Grand Rapids challenging the constitutionality of a state law that forbids panhandling in public places. Michigan law establishes the crime of being a “disorderly person” and part of the definition of that crime is that someone is being disorderly when they are “found begging in a public place.” The city of Grand Rapids has prosecuted for this crime 399 times since 2008, according to documents released to the ACLU pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request