A judge has called Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’s stay-at-home orders “the very definition of tyranny.”
We’re living in The Twilight Zone — in some cases, states’ executive leaders have appeared as kings, issuing legislature-free edicts prohibiting basic societal movement. (See California and Michigan).
In seemingly no time, our way of life has been turned on its head, courtesy of sole-power-wielding individuals.
In Wisconsin, things are heating up — Saturday saw a demonstration against the state’s shutdown, and Republican Party of Waukesha County’s Keith Best told Milwaukee’s WISN it’s Code Red:
“Wisconsin needs to open up. There are too many small businesses that are going to be out of business if we don’t open up … So many other states are opening up way before we are, just in the Midwest alone. [The governor] should open up now, gradually in the state, especially areas in the north and have Dane County and Milwaukee County open up last.”
GOP legislators in The Badger State have filed a lawsuit to squash Gov. Tony’s stay-at-home extension.
The Wisconsin State Journal reports:
The 90 minutes of argument, heard remotely by video conference, came after [Tony], a Democrat, and leaders from both parties in the Legislature met for the first time to discuss a bipartisan response to the pandemic, which through Tuesday afternoon had killed 353 Wisconsin residents and sickened more than 8,500.
As noted by The Daily Wire, Tony’s first stay-at-home order came March 24th. On April 16th, he extended it to May 26th.
Amid Tuesday’s debate, State Assistant Attorney General Colin Roth asserted an end to the extension would mean “people will die.”
That prompted the following response from Judge Rebecca Bradley:
“My question for you is, where in the Constitution did the people of Wisconsin confer authority on a single, unelected Cabinet secretary to compel almost 6 million people to stay at home and close their businesses and face imprisonment if they don’t comply, with no input from the Legislature, without the consent of the people?”
Good question, Judge.
AG Colin had a comeback — existing statutes grant power to the Department of Health Services “to do whatever is necessary to combat a novel, deadly, communicable disease like the one we’re facing today.”
Man, this is a mess. Going forward, what if a shutdown approach is applied to the seasonal flu? It’s a “deadly, communicable disease.”
Per the Wisconsin State Journal, two issues will be determined in court: “whether [Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary-Designee Andrea Palm] violated state law governing the issuance of emergency rules by ordering the extension of ‘safer at home,’ and whether the order exceeded the authority DHS has under state law by closing nonessential businesses, ordering state residents to stay at home and forbidding nonessential travel.”
The Republican legislature wants the court to sustain the suspension for six days, lending time for them to work with DHS in creating a new emergency rule bolstered by the Wisconsin Dairy Alliance, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Wisconsin Tavern League, hunting and fishing organizations, and others.
Judge Rebecca appears to be erring on the side of liberty and democracy.
She put it to AG Colin:
“Isn’t it the very definition of tyranny for one person to order people to be imprisoned for going to work, among other ordinarily lawful activities?”
It is a kind of imprisonment — people across the country have been on house arrest.
And the jailbirds are ready to break free.
Something’s gotta give — in Wisconsin and elsewhere.
Hopefully, soon America will be out and about again. Things may never be the same as pre-COVID-19. But hopefully, they’ll never be the same as mid-COVID, either.
-ALEX
See 3 more pieces from me:
Sweden Maintains Its Lead: To Encourage Social Distancing, a City Covers Its Park With Chicken Poop
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