Michigan Supreme Court Finds Gov. Whitmer ‘Lacks Authority’ For COVID Shutdowns
A defiant Whitmer insists that her lockdowns “will continue under alternative sources of authority that were not at issue”
Michigan governor Gretchen ‘Lockdown Queen’ Whitmer was dealt a blow by a legal decision issued by the state’s Supreme Court. The opinion was in answer to a federal court’s questions about Michigan law. The federal court will determine the next steps.
The Court’s ruling found, in part, that the “Governor did not have authority after April 30, 2020, to issue or renew any executive orders related to the COVID19 pandemic under the EMA [Emergency Management Act of 1976].”
WHOA.
Michigan Supreme Court rules against @GovWhitmer's use of 1945 emergency powers law in #COVID19 pandemic, says 145 law "is in violation of the Constitution of our state because it purports to delegate to the executive branch the legislative powers of state government…" pic.twitter.com/sIP7Pd6X6r
— Chad Livengood (@ChadLivengood) October 2, 2020
Michigan’s Supreme Court on Friday struck down Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s orders to extend a coronavirus-related state of emergency past April 30 without legislative approval.
The court ruled 4-3 that Whitmer’s decision to declare a state of emergency without approval from state legislators was unconstitutional, citing the 1976 Emergency Management Act, which states that “after 28 days, the governor shall issue an executive order… declaring the state of disaster terminated” or request an extension.
The plaintiffs in the case were health care providers who could not perform nonessential medical procedures due to the extension, according to the majority opinion.
“The court has restored the voices of 10 million Michiganders by reaffirming the constitutional protections of checks and balances afforded through the separation of powers,” Patrick Wright, vice president for legal affairs at the Mackinac Center, which brought the lawsuit against Whitmer that led to the decision, said in a statement.
Needless to say Whitmer was not happy with the ruling and vowed to continue her draconian, economy- and life-destroying lockdown measures regardless.
Fox News continues:
She added that the ruling “does not take effect for at least 21 days, and until then” she will continue to use her emergency powers, and “after 21 days, many of the responsive measures” she put in place to control the spread of COVID-19 “will continue under alternative sources of authority that were not at issue” during Friday’s ruling.
Statement from Governor Whitmer on Michigan Supreme Court Ruling on Emergency Powers: pic.twitter.com/kQKiAjD6gp
— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) October 2, 2020
You can read the court’s summary of the opinions here.
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Comments
I bet Ol’ Gretchen is stomping about, yelling at people and throwing stuff.
Magic wand taken away.
Don’t worry though… she will get even.
Someone needs to do a Downfall video with her head grafted onto Hitler.
“I am ABOVE ze law!”
https://youtu.be/ZNJDV1XoEpw
That Wicked Evil Witch of the North needs a…..
…big hug?
THe witch needs a good bi*ch slapping out at the proverbial wood shed!
Oh she’s already working on a plan. Ain’t no state supreme court decision gonna get in her way!!
Looks like the court isn’t gonna have any of her shenanigans:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/10/michigan-supreme-court-strikes-down-whitmers-covid-executive-orders.php
And, law enfarcement will be only too happy to do her bidding.
She still has her broom!
“yelling at people and throwing stuff”
Like Hillary, White House staff had plenty to say about both Hillary and Moochelle Obama
I forgot though to point out the millions of dollars worth of hardships that she thrust upon Michigan for months before being stopped.
I wonder how many small outfits went under directly due to her actions.
They should have been instantly challenged.
It seems here in New York, sadly, there are apparently NO similar restraints at all on the “emergency” powers of #CaesarCuomo.
If we’re permitted to have a state legislature with any citizen influence again – one that wasn’t simply strangled by Caesar-dominated Democrats – perhaps some remedy could be considered.
Please: We beseech thee. The true emergency, being the great potential danger of a great UNKNOWN, ended months ago.
If Democrats are claiming governing powers derived outside of the laws passed by the people through their representatives and/or the state constitution [the powers involved are state and not Federal matters] then every freedom enumerated from the early 1600’s on has been voided in Democrat controlled polities. I believe the arguments concerning that have been settled a number of times kinetically [English Civil Wars, US Revolution, French Revolution, et.al.] and may have to be settled again in those polities.
Subotai Bahadur
Just shoot the bitch.
Constitution guarantees all citizens a republican form of government. Sounds like an extradition job for the men in black.
She’s a tyrant to the end.
I’ll bet Gretchen has made plenty of statements about President Trump being a tyrant–but she’s the real deal. And still won’t accept it after the State Supreme Court has told her that her orders have been unconstitutional. Shouldn’t there be a class action suit against her for violating the public’s constitutional rights with these illegal orders?
Same day this Mich SC came down there was a petition drive that dropped over 600K signatures to take away her dictatorial powers. Once the signatures are validated (soros sec of state along with a commie lt gov from actblue) then the re[ib legislature can vote on it and wHitler’s little power grab law is wiped off the books. She gets no say on a petition drive that is successful.
repub not re[ib
My kingdom for an edit button….
I wish American voters, unsure of president Trump, would understand the underlying issues of government power and democrats open defiance of the constitution, that are the heart of this case. Whitmer’s arrogance is staggering. Little reported is the MI AG has opened an investigation into the citizen led initiative to cancel the 1945 emergency powers act that gained 200,000 signatures more that the 340,000 required for certification, in LESS THAN 3 MONTHS. The 1945 law is going down either way and the MI SC ruling is immediate, she has 21 days to request a second look. She will now attempt to use Health Agencies and departments UNDER control. While not specifically part of the case, goes to the heart of limited government principles. She does not love or respect the rule of law or the spirit of, in Michigan or the US.
The prez or whatever the head of the drive is called said the guy our lezbo soros backed AG is investigating didn’t get his signatures counted with the real drive.
Whitmer is the American equivalent of Mussolini.
Will she push so far as to wind up hanging upside down?
https://archive.org/details/1945-05-14_Beaten_Nazis_Sign_Historic_Surrender
You mean if MI Citizens could grow a pair!
It took the Italians 20 year to hang Mussolini.
If people of Michigan want to re-elect that lunatic, they have to live with her. But it only takes 2% of a completely dedicated part of a population to effect revolution.
When they finally got around to it, they did a very nice job.
It’s a wonderment that Wisconsin has not laid claim to her. She and John T. “klieglights” Chisholm are of similar intellectual Providence.
.
What ever happened to a good, old fashioned, tar and feathering??!!
I wonder how may people do not understand that the tar was very hot, so hot it cooked skin ad pulled the skin off. I suspect that most people who were tarred and feathered died, and those who did not would have been badly disfigured.
I highly recommend “Carnivale,” s2e9, for an educationally graphic depiction.
“Will she push so far as to wind up hanging upside down?”
Like Mussolini?
Why 21 days? This ruling should be retroactive to the first day her emergency powers ended. All enforcement actions and rules made under that authority should have been null and void from the time the court signed the decision.
The stupidity – yes, stupid – of the people who support the likes of Whitmer and Cuomo in the face of the incredible corruption and treason uncovered about their political allies is so, so amazing.
Like these two narcissistic idiots:
Norman Lear, Rita Moreno Bash Trump Presidency: ‘I’ve Never Seen Such Horror. I’ve Never Lived Through Such Horror’:
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2020/10/03/norman-lear-rita-moreno-bash-trump-presidency-ive-never-seen-such-horror-ive-never-lived-through-such-horror/
Ask these two dumbbells about this, and they’d be lost:
Chinese Communist Party Arrests Mother Of Coronavirus Whistleblower Dr. Yan:
https://thenationalpulse.com/breaking/dr-yan-mom-arrested/
I am old enough to remember when the presidency of Bush the Younger was the American Third Reich, with W as Hitler. The comparisons of Bush to Hitler were almost as numerous as the ones comparing Trump to Hitler. Before that Bush the Elder, Reagan, Nixon, and Eisenhower all had their turns as the American Hitler (TM).
And as you can see, it was true each time. With an endless parade of Hitlers in the White House every person in the United States has already been gassed to death in concentration camps – several times. Norman Lear and Rita Moreno, the poor dears, have suffered more than the Jews ever did,
You raise some good questions.
I am not sure that this ruling is technically enforceable yet. In most states, appellate decisions can’t be enforced until after the losing party has had the opportunity to file a motion for reconsideration, and the appellate court then notifies the lower court its decision is final.
Here, this case was the result of questions certified by a federal court. That may make the issue of technical finality even harder to know for certain. My guess is that there won’t be a technical right to enforce this decision “as a judgment” until the federal court enters its own judgment based on it.
But in another sense, I don’t see why the ruling shouldn’t be made retroactive in the sense that we now know that Whitmer, while purporting to act under color of law without actually possessing the authority to do so, effectively deprived many, many people of their rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. There is a federal law giving parties injured by such a violation the right to bring a cause of action for damages occasioned by such a violation. I would be interested to hear lawyers familiar with this cause of action to opine on whether it would lie here.
And, whether or not there is a valid cause of action for past damages, I strongly suspect that–to the extent Whitmer maintains her bans in the face of this decision–that she personally is liable for damages occasioned as a result of her continued enforcement of her edicts after the date of the ruling. (Because now that she has the Court’s final opinion, she knows for a fact that continued enforcement is unconstitutional, and therefore no longer has the defense of qualified immunity.)
This post was meant to be a reply to UnCivilServant’s question.
I think that the delay is a technicality. Once the dust is settled, if the decision stands up, the nullification will, or at least should, be retroactive, because when a statute is declared unconstitutional the authority it purportedly extended to state officers was never valid.
Two things come to my mind.
First, by stating that she will look to other “sources” for the authority to continue her policies is an admission that she believed her (ersatz) authority for her actions was rooted solely in the statute that is now known to be unconstitutional.
Second, if such “alternate” sources of authority already existed, she would have claimed them when instituting the lockdown in order to fortify her acts against any challenge, because a challenge to her acts under multiple laws would have been less likely to succeed than a challenge to action under a single law. If such sources exist, she would certainly have applied them when the challenge to her acts was made, and would not have waited until the court’s decision.
Look for Whitmer to stretch the interpretation of other laws (beyond the bounds of the legislature’s intent) in order to continue her war on the people of Michigan.
Ok, not a lawyer, but it sounds to me like they didn’t find the statute to be unconstitutional, but found her continued use of the statute to be unconstitutional.
After the first 28 days the MI legislature has to approve the gov. the power to continue the emergency and the MI house voted to deny her that power. However, she ignored their decision and decided to play petty tyrant.
As I understand it, the law was found to unconstitutionally delegate legislative authority to the executive branch, so the law itself has been struck down and not merely Whitmer’s interpretation of it nor her particular actions under it.
Cool, thanks @DaveGinOly.
There are two statutes at issue. The 1976 statute limits emergency declarations to 28 days. But it explicitly says that it does not override the 1945 statute, which allowed unlimited declarations. So while Whitmer originally used the 1976 statute, when the 28 days ran out she said she was now relying on the 1945 one. The legislature claimed that the 1976 one overrode it, but that was ridiculous because it explicitly said it didn’t. Comes the court now and says, quite right, but unfortunately the 1945 one is unconstitutional. So sorry. You’re stuck with only the 1976 one, and the 28 days that one allows you expired long ago.
Thanks, @Milhouse.
Wasn’t there also some comment about “the Governor and the Legislature have had ample opportunities to work together on this?”
This is the only woman I have ever come across who could only look good in a tight black military uniform with a red swastika arm band.
Was not the SS a collection of sociopaths who would do what humans in the regular Army would not do?
Sociopaths (bullies) do not surrender. They control you or destroy you. The horror is that the voters armed this sociopath by electing her. She will defy these judges and punish them by inflicting further harm on the citizens the court is protecting.
Do not expect her to behave like a rational decent human being. She will show the people in Michigan she is not to be messed with.
Look appropriate perhaps… but there are some people whose looks even cosplay cannot salvage.
Michigan is one of those states where you can recall an elected official, apparently with no grounds required. Someone should get to work on that. I have to believe that a huge number of people there want her gone after the initial and ridiculous power grab and her subsequent “rule-with-an-iron-fist” shtick.
They did, and evidently, the effort failed.
The Pennsylvania SC is happy to oblige Emperor Wolf in his power grab, assist him every chance they can.
“will continue under alternative sources of authority that were not at issue”
So she is going to continue to us emergency powers, just not under the emergency powers statute? This woman needs to be arrested and dragged out of the capital in handcuffs, geez.
Hey for all those who support these Socialist Tyrants, this is what you can look forward to, commrad!
Although I’m a lawyer, I find all this argument tedious. Law-itis.
No one in his right mind believes anyone has the right to stop anyone else from making a living. Let us remember, making a living is how you generate income to purchase food required for life.
Whitmer is in fact claiming the right to starve people to death, to have them die from preventable medical problems, etc.
No one has the right to do these things to peaceful people.
If her paycheck was stopped, she’d wake up soon enough. Back on Memorial Day her husband wanted a boat put in the water. She’s just as sensitive as anyone else to her life being put on hold.
So, now we know we need new statutes: in cases of declared emergencies, all government paychecks must cease, so that government employees and operatives have the same stake in lifting them as citizens do.
“So, now we know we need new statutes: in cases of declared emergencies, all government paychecks must cease, so that government employees and operatives have the same stake in lifting them as citizens do.”
A thousand upvotes.
My son keeps saying, these shutdowns are only possible because some people are still working.
Thank you, Hopeful.
Big Sister’s 1984 power grab is over.
A wise man once said: “”It ain’t over till it’s over”. These governors of Michigan, Pennsyvania, New Jersey, New York and California are essentially no different than other dictators down through history that will use human life to push their agendas. These governors simply wanted to ramp up the mortality rates as high as possible for their own political purposes and they will NOT stop pursuing these avenues until completely out of power! They may be checked or limited one way, but will seek out others to suit their nefarious purposes.
The Washington State constitution has a HUGE problem with giving the governor unchecked power for an un-ending amount of time.
The state of emergency claus should kick back to the legislature at some point for ongoing approval, but it doesn’t. So we have King Inslee.
It’s Washington of course, so Seattle will re-elect him.
And Trump beats the bug in three days.
He is going to have to take the FDA to task.
If we had access to treatment, and could all be over it in 3 days, there would be no excuse for a lock-down, and little need for a vaccine.
“Just an FYI on the effect of Supreme Court opinions. The Governor’s claim that her unconstitutional executive orders are still law for 21 days is incorrect. The 21 days she is referring to has to do with when a judgment is entered in the particular case before the Court, and when the deadline is to file a motion for rehearing. But the legal rule announced by the Supreme Court in an opinion is the law of the State of Michigan the moment it is announced. For example, if the Court held in an opinion that it was unconstitutional for the police to search your car without a warrant, the police couldn’t say, ‘well, we can still conduct unconstitutional and illegal searches for 21 more days.’ The citizenry would rightly be outraged. It is similarly outrageous for the Governor to claim that she can continue to violate the constitution for another 21 days. Every single judge in the State of Michigan is legally obligated to follow the Supreme Court’s opinion as of this moment forward.”
Aaron Gauthier is the chief judge of Michigan’s 53rd Circuit Court in Cheboygan County.
She still has her broom.
She’s a dead ringer for Snow White’s evil stepmother!
The real question is, “Will the Michiganders vote in enough Constitutionalists to impeach her?”