Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down Democrat Governor's Mask Mandate
on 1st April 2021 @ 3.00pm
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Gov. Tony Evers' mask mandate was struck down by the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Wisconsin's public health order, that Democrat Gov. Tony Evers repeatedly used to enforce a statewide mask mandate, has been struck down by the state's Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, the court overruled Evers after he continued to enact mask mandates across Wisconsin, without the approval of the legislature, even after his original one had expired.
In the early days of the pandemic, the first-term Democratic governor enacted the first statewide mask mandate to cover last summer.
Evers originally said the mandate would remain in effect until the end of September.
However, he proceeded to unilaterally extend it several more times by issuing new public health orders.
“A governor will surely have little difficultly drafting a new emergency order stating that the challenges or risks are a little different now than they were last month or last week,” the Wisconsin Supreme Court stated in its majority opinion.
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Gov. Tony Evers used public health order to enact statewide mask mandates
“So long as the emergency conditions remain, the governor would possess indefinite emergency power under this atextual theory,” the court's opinion adds.
For his part, Evers argued that the nature of the pandemic had changed, which thus allowed for him to enact multiple emergency orders for the COVID-19 threat even after the expiration of the original 60-day period, according to The Daily Wire.
The state supreme court, however, ruled 4-3 that Evers was not actually legally allowed to enact such extensions under Wisconsin law.
"We recognize that determining when a set of facts gives rise to a unique enabling condition may not always be easy,” said the court.
"But here, COVID-19 has been a consistent threat, and no one can suggest this threat has gone away and then reemerged.
"The threat has ebbed and flowed, but this does not negate the basic reality that COVID-19 has been a significant and constant danger for a year, with no letup.
"In the words of the statute, the occurrence of an ‘illness or health condition’ caused by a ‘novel . . . biological agent’ has remained, unabated.”
Concerning the scope of the court’s analysis, the majority opinion noted: “Some may wish our analysis would focus on ensuring the Governor has sufficient power to fight COVID-19; others may be more concerned about expansive executive power.
"But outside of a constitutional violation, these policy concerns are not relevant to this court’s task in construing the statute.
"Whether the policy choices reflected in the law give the governor too much or too little authority to respond to the present health crisis does not guide our analysis.
"Our inquiry is simply whether the law gives the governor the authority to successively declare states of emergency in this circumstance.”
press
Gov. Tony Evers repeatedly pushed illegal mask mandates on the people of Wisconsin
Evers said in a statement Wednesday that the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic was not over.
The statement did not directly mention the court.
“Since the beginning of this pandemic, I’ve worked to keep Wisconsinites healthy and safe, and I’ve trusted the science and public health experts to guide our decision making,” said Evers.
“Our fight against COVID-19 isn’t over—while we work to get folks vaccinated as quickly as we can, we know wearing a mask saves lives, and we still need Wisconsinites to mask up so we can beat this virus and bounce back from this pandemic.”
Thanks to: https://neonnettle.com
Court overrules Gov. Tony Evers' public health orders
By: Jay Greenberg |@NeonNettleon 1st April 2021 @ 3.00pm
press
Gov. Tony Evers' mask mandate was struck down by the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Wisconsin's public health order, that Democrat Gov. Tony Evers repeatedly used to enforce a statewide mask mandate, has been struck down by the state's Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, the court overruled Evers after he continued to enact mask mandates across Wisconsin, without the approval of the legislature, even after his original one had expired.
In the early days of the pandemic, the first-term Democratic governor enacted the first statewide mask mandate to cover last summer.
Evers originally said the mandate would remain in effect until the end of September.
However, he proceeded to unilaterally extend it several more times by issuing new public health orders.
“A governor will surely have little difficultly drafting a new emergency order stating that the challenges or risks are a little different now than they were last month or last week,” the Wisconsin Supreme Court stated in its majority opinion.
press
Gov. Tony Evers used public health order to enact statewide mask mandates
“So long as the emergency conditions remain, the governor would possess indefinite emergency power under this atextual theory,” the court's opinion adds.
For his part, Evers argued that the nature of the pandemic had changed, which thus allowed for him to enact multiple emergency orders for the COVID-19 threat even after the expiration of the original 60-day period, according to The Daily Wire.
The state supreme court, however, ruled 4-3 that Evers was not actually legally allowed to enact such extensions under Wisconsin law.
"We recognize that determining when a set of facts gives rise to a unique enabling condition may not always be easy,” said the court.
"But here, COVID-19 has been a consistent threat, and no one can suggest this threat has gone away and then reemerged.
"The threat has ebbed and flowed, but this does not negate the basic reality that COVID-19 has been a significant and constant danger for a year, with no letup.
"In the words of the statute, the occurrence of an ‘illness or health condition’ caused by a ‘novel . . . biological agent’ has remained, unabated.”
Concerning the scope of the court’s analysis, the majority opinion noted: “Some may wish our analysis would focus on ensuring the Governor has sufficient power to fight COVID-19; others may be more concerned about expansive executive power.
"But outside of a constitutional violation, these policy concerns are not relevant to this court’s task in construing the statute.
"Whether the policy choices reflected in the law give the governor too much or too little authority to respond to the present health crisis does not guide our analysis.
"Our inquiry is simply whether the law gives the governor the authority to successively declare states of emergency in this circumstance.”
press
Gov. Tony Evers repeatedly pushed illegal mask mandates on the people of Wisconsin
Evers said in a statement Wednesday that the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic was not over.
The statement did not directly mention the court.
“Since the beginning of this pandemic, I’ve worked to keep Wisconsinites healthy and safe, and I’ve trusted the science and public health experts to guide our decision making,” said Evers.
“Our fight against COVID-19 isn’t over—while we work to get folks vaccinated as quickly as we can, we know wearing a mask saves lives, and we still need Wisconsinites to mask up so we can beat this virus and bounce back from this pandemic.”
https://neonnettle.com/news/14730-wisconsin-supreme-court-strikes-down-democrat-governor-s-mask-mandateOur fight against COVID-19 isn’t over—while we work to get folks vaccinated as quickly as we can, we know wearing a mask saves lives, and we still need Wisconsinites to mask up so we can beat this virus and bounce back from this pandemic.
— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) March 31, 2021
Thanks to: https://neonnettle.com