Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
Although the Michigan Supreme Court has struck down Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency authority to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, don’t expect anything to change immediately.
Whitmer has 21 days from the release of the decision last Friday to request a re-hearing. Typically, court orders do not take effect until after appellate windows have closed.
And, in this case, there may be no court order.
The ruling did not come in response to a direct challenge to the 1945 law that Whitmer has used to justify the ongoing state of emergency.
Rather, the ruling came as the result of a federal lawsuit brought by several insurance companies that challenged one of Whitmer’s executive orders. It was the federal court that requested the review from the Michigan Supreme Court.
Since the ruling did not pertain to a direct challenge to the full use of the statute, opponents of Whitmer’s use of the law may need to initiate a new lawsuit in state courts to have the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision broadly applied.
In a statement released yesterday, Whitmer pledged to work with the legislature to establish new policies, but said she would not allow partisan politics to take over the process.
She also said that many of the existing rules that are in place can continue under “alternative sources of authority that were not at issue in the court’s ruling.” She didn’t specify what those are, but many state administrative departments have already issued rules that reflect the executive orders.
If the state is unable to set appropriate guidelines, the Public Health Code gives local health departments broad power to step in. Western U.P. Health Department Health Officer Kate Beer hopes it doesn’t come to that…
For now, nothing changes.
