More than 20,000 registered sex offenders have been removed from Michigan’s sex-offender registry following a state Supreme Court order that barred retroactive application of the state’s 2021 registration requirements. Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor convicted of sexually assaulting minors, is among those removed.
On Sept. 9, The Supreme Court ruled that the 2021 Sex Offenders Registration Act could not be applied retroactively to people whose criminal acts subjecting them to registration occurred before the 2011 amendments.
The justices found doing so amounted to punishment prohibited by the U.S. and Michigan constitutions. The Court also rejected severing or reviving earlier versions of the law, meaning the affected offenders cannot simply be returned to an older version of the registry regime.
About 43,000 people were registered or required to register when the order was issued. By Sept. 11, more than 20,000 had been removed, Michigan State Police said.
According to MSP the number may change as its review continues. The removals are permanent and apply regardless of how long the registration term would otherwise have lasted or how serious the underlying offense was.
Those removed no longer have Michigan registration, reporting or verification duties. They do not violate Michigan law by failing to perform those former registration obligations. The removal is not limited to the public website; MSP guidance says the information is also permanently removed from the law-enforcement registry database.
The order applies to people whose Michigan registration rests solely on offenses committed before July 1, 2011. It also reaches people registered in Michigan because of out-of-state conduct before that date.
A person is still required to register in another state solely for conduct before July 1, 2011, including lifetime registrants convicted of repeated or violent sex crimes — could move to Michigan without becoming subject to Michigan’s continuing registration requirements,according to MSP
“The department maintains the database, is required to comply with the Court’s order and is taking the necessary steps to implement the ruling,” Col. James F. Grady II, MSP director, said.
He added that MSP did not make the legal change and that efforts to change the law should go to the Legislature.
MSP officers cannot publicly confirm or deny whether a particular person has a continuing registration record in the nonpublic database or provide a list of people removed under the ruling.
A search of Michigan’s public Sex Offender Registry for Lawrence Nassar now returns no results.
The offender is no longer required to register in Michigan. His charging documents concern offenses committed before the cutoff. The important distinction is the date of the underlying offense, not the date of conviction. His removal does not disturb his convictions or sentences.
Nassar pleaded guilty in 2017 to 10 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving minors in Ingham and Eaton counties.
He remains imprisoned under a 60-year federal sentence for child-pornography and obstruction offenses.
The federal term runs consecutively to his state sentences of 40 to 175 years in Ingham County and 40 to 125 years in Eaton County, which run concurrently with each other.
Eaton County Prosecutor Douglas R. Lloyd criticized the ruling as part of what he called an “erosion of victims’ rights and public safety” and accused the Court of “legislating from the bench.”
In a message to victims in the Nassar case, his office said: “our office is truly sorry that the person who harmed you will no longer be required to register,”
Grace French, founder of survivor group The Assist, told WILX that seeing Nassar’s name tied to “removal” is “super disorienting and painful.”
The registry change also carries implications for victims. MSP’s guidance notes that Michigan crime victims have constitutional and statutory rights to fairness and dignity, notice of proceedings, consultation with prosecutors and information about an accused person’s conviction, sentence, imprisonment and release.
Prosecutors must also offer victims an opportunity to consult before certain plea or sentencing agreements are finalized, the guidance says.
The Supreme Court’s order concerns Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Act. Michigan’s original registry was a confidential law-enforcement database. Later versions made registration information publicly accessible and imposed additional reporting and other restrictions on registrants.
The Supreme Court has treated those later requirements as punishment for ex post facto purposes when applied to crimes committed before the requirements took effect. The ruling does not invalidate underlying convictions, which remain in court records and criminal histories.
A separate federal class-action challenge to the 2021 SORA remains on appeal in the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments were held July 21, 2026. That litigation could affect people whose offenses occurred on or after July 1, 2011.
Nassar’s name may no longer appear on Michigan’s public registry, but the Supreme Court’s order did not erase his convictions or his prison sentences.
