Jean-Pierre Michel

Jean-Pierre Michel (5 August 1938 – 24 January 2021) was a member of the Senate of France, representing the Haute-Saône department from 2004 to 2014. He was a member of the Socialist Party. In 2014 he ran for a second term, but lost by a 57%-34% margin to Alain Joyandet and by a 60%-34% margin to mayor Michel Raison.

Michel died on 24 January 2021 at the age of 82.

Political career
As part of the study of the bill opening marriage to same-sex couples, as rapporteur of the Committee on Laws, he declared on February 13, 2013: "Me, my position is that something is just [or fair] because that's what the law says, that's all. And the law does not refer to some natural order. It refers to a given balance of power at some point in time, period, nothing else." The philosopher Thibaud Collin interjects: "Ah, I see, the basis of justice is thus the result of a balance of power?" And the socialist rapporteur concludes: "This is my point of view, it is the Marxist point of view on law."(Starting at 1:40:01 in the full video of the committee hearing on 13 February 2013, can be found on YouTube but not linked to.)