News Story

Whitmer Initially Defiant On Losing Emergency Powers, Now Says Will Work With Legislature

Senate Majority leader reported radio silence from administration as of 1 p.m. Sunday

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lashed out at the Michigan Supreme Court after it ruled her COVID-19 executive orders were unlawful and unconstitutional.

Whitmer made her comments Sunday morning on CNN.

“The sad irony is that on the day that the president was admitted to the hospital with the very virus he called a hoax, the Supreme Court in Michigan undermined my emergency rule, my emergency orders that I have had to enact that puts us in the same state as all other states in this nation, to save lives, we’ve save thousands of lives, and the Supreme Court on a slim majority, Republican vote undermined that effort,” Whitmer said.

Then she urged residents to vote for more liberal Supreme Court justices.

“Because we have to have justices who do the right thing and follow the rule of law,” Whitmer said on CNN.

Whitmer appeared intent on retaining sole authority over the state's response to the coronavirus.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey said in a text message on Sunday that the state legislature has not been contacted by Whitmer yet. Shirkey said he’d be willing to work with Whitmer on what to do next regarding how the state deals with the coronavirus.

The Attorney General's office released a statement Sunday that suggested that Whitmer's executive orders deemed unlawful and unconstitutional could be enforced by existing state agencies and departments.

"In light of the Supreme Court's decision on Friday, the Attorney General will no longer enforce the Governor's Executive Orders through criminal prosecution," the AG press release stated. "However, her [AG Dana Nessel] decision is not binding on other law enforcement agencies or state departments with independent enforcement authority."

Whitmer's office put out a statement Sunday that she was willing to work with the state legislature.

"The governor is ready to work across the aisle with Republicans in the legislature where we can find common ground, but she won’t let partisan politics get in the way of doing what’s necessary to keep people safe and save lives," the press release stated. "The Supreme Court’s ruling raises several legal questions that we are still reviewing. While we are moving swiftly, this transition will take time. As the governor said last week, many of the responsive measures she has put in place to control the spread of the virus will continue under alternative sources of authority that were not at issue in the court’s ruling. We will have more to say on this in the coming days. Make no mistake, Governor Whitmer will continue using every tool at her disposal to keep Michigan families, frontline workers, and small businesses safe from this deadly virus.”

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.

News Bite

Judge Says Whitmer Wrong: Unilateral Governance Ended With Supreme Court Ruling

Governor claims she gets a three-week extension on executive order powers

Aaron Gauthier is the chief judge of Michigan's 53rd Circuit Court in Cheboygan County.

Gauthier challenged Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s claim that her coronavirus epidemic executive orders remain valid for another 21 days even after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that they are illegal and unconstitutional.

Gauthier posted on Facebook: “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.”

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.