State issued stay at home orders continue to be challenged in court

Fox News reports Sunday: “Stay-at-home orders aimed at reducing the spread of coronavirus are now facing legal challenges from residents and state officials alike, alleging that some measures – mostly put in place by Democrats — go too far while the country gradually moves toward reopening.”

The legal ramifications of stay at home orders are legally coming home to roost. Residents have largely begun to ignore the orders and across the country are taking matters into their own hands.

“We’re being challenged,” said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, “All across this country, every single day, governors are being challenged, local health officials are being challenged, and it’s a spirit of collaboration. Those that continue to pursue things that put people in harm’s risk, you have to have stepped up efforts and enforcement and sanctions.”

What Newsom and Democrats see as challenges are citizens who want to get back to their jobs and their lives. But as an advocate of government control, any move by citizens to assert their own rights is a direct challenge to the state and his political standing.

Fox continues, “Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is up against a lawsuit from Republicans in her state’s House and Senate over her extension of an already-strict emergency order that has regulated residents’ movement and closed businesses. The GOP lawsuit claims that Whitmer overstepped her authority by extending her previous shutdown order, saying she needs the legislature’s approval to extend it beyond 28 days.”

Whitmer’s actions make Newsom look like Patrick Henry. From her hysteria at citizens asking for their lives back, to her assertion that she was under armed siege, to now her extension of her stay at home edict, Whitmer is leading the liberal chorus of those whose goal is the retention of virus regulations past the point of an actual health threat from the virus.

Fox concludes: “In Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court struck down the state’s “safer at home” on Wednesday, saying the administration of Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, overstepped its authority when it extended the order through the end of May. The ruling said any future orders must be approved by the state’s legislature…Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton warned that he could take action against the cities of Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas if they do not scale back orders that are more restrictive than state-issued measures. Gov. Greg Abbott is moving toward reopening the state and said that while businesses have the freedom to reopen or remain closed, local governments do not have the option to keep them closed, the Texas Tribune reported.”

The Texas situation is unique in the nation as the governor, Republican Greg Abbott, is working to reopen the state while certain liberal cities are fighting to keep the state closed. In most other cases it is the governors, mostly Democrats, that are using their power to rule from above.

These lawsuits will wind their way through the court system, perhaps reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. The decisions rendered there may not be what Newsom and Whitmer have in mind.