LANSING, Mich. (Legal Newsline) – Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has not had authority to issue coronavirus orders since April 30, the state Supreme Court has decided in an affirmation of arguments made by businesses and individuals who claimed their rights were violated.
And a 21-day grace period after the ruling during which the orders would remain in effect isn’t likely to happen, as state Attorney General Dana Nessel says her office will not enforce them.
“The Constitution does not permit any public official unlawfully to restrict our liberty. All public officials must respect the right of the people to govern themselves at all times, especially during a crisis,” said Eric Dreiband, of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
The Supreme Court found Whitmer had supported the extensions of her orders with a 1945 law that actually didn’t apply and that under the Emergency Management Act of 1976 she did not have the authority to declare a COVID-19 state of emergency past April 30.
(I)t is clear that the Governor only possesses the authority or obligation to declare a state of emergency or state of disaster once and then must terminate that declaration after 28 days if the Legislature has not authorized an extension,” Justice Stephen Markman wrote.
“The Governor possesses no authority - much less obligation - to redeclare the same state of emergency or state of disaster and thereby avoid the Legislature’s limitation on her authority under the EMA.”
The orders at issue imposed social distancing requirements as well as a face mask mandate. Groups like the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons say face masks are useless in stopping the spread of COVID-19, given that they aren’t form-fitting and do not provide a high level of filtration.
The chance of catching the disease from a passing interaction in a public space is minimal anyway, the group has concluded, and that health groups advocating for face masks, like the National Institutes of Health, do not provide information that supports their use.
Whitmer said after the ruling that she fears the Upper Peninsula’s infection rate is increasing and urged Michigan’s citizens to continue abiding by the directives in her now-unconstitutional orders.
The World Health Organization estimated Monday that 10% of the world’s population – about 760 million people – may have been infected. It has attributed about 1 million deaths to the disease, which would mean a fatality rate of about %0.0013.