Michigan Gov. Whitmer hit by federal lawsuits over stay-at-home order
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been hit with at least two federal lawsuits challenging the social distancing orders she imposed to battle the spread of the coronavirus that requires people to stay at home and most businesses to shutter their doors.
The lawsuits, filed on Tuesday and Wednesday by four Michigan residents and one business, accuse Whitmer of violating their constitutional rights with her “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order that is in effect until the end of April.
“It’s taking a sledge hammer to an ant,” attorney David Helm, who is representing the residents, told Fox 2 Detroit on Wednesday.
“We believe it is over-broad and over-reaching. There is a way to do it appropriately without infringing on Constitutional rights like the governor has.”
He argued that Whitmer’s order shutting businesses and banning all non-essential travel violates people’s right to freely associate with one another and said they are in favor of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines on limiting crowd sizes.
“We have a hard time reconciling how you can go to the store, but you can’t go out on your fishing boat,” Helm said. “Or you can go to an employer who is essential but a one-man tree trimming operation is not.”
An owner of a landscaping business filed the other suit, which claims “the draconian encroachments on their freedom set forth in this complaint will, unfortunately, become the ‘new norm.'”
Michigan has more than 28,000 coronavirus cases and its 1,921 death toll is the third-largest in the country after New York and New Jersey.
Meanwhile, four county sheriffs from northern Michigan are opposed to the orders and said they will enforce them on an “individual” basis.
“While we understand her desire to protect the public, we question some restrictions that she has imposed as overstepping her executive authority,” reads part of the release. “She (Whitmer) has created a vague framework of emergency laws that only confuse Michigan (residents),” the four said in a statement, the Manistee News Advocate reported.
Instead of limiting travel, Michigan should be concentrating on “reopening counties and getting people back to work.”
“We also need to be aware that this virus is deadly and that we need to continue to practice social distancing, washing of hands, wearing of masks as well as other medically recommended measures,” the statement said. “Allowing those without paychecks back to work is imperative to the economic success and well-being of our community. We can do this in stages, especially those that work outside.”
On Wednesday, thousands of protesters traveled to the Michigan Capitol Building in Lansing to rally against the orders Whitmer signed on April 9, clogging streets with lines of bumper-to-bumper traffic and vehicles honking horns.
“Operation Gridlock” was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition.
Whitmer, a Democrat, said she was “really disappointed” by the demonstration because many of the protesters were not wearing masks and not practicing social distancing.
“The sad irony here is that … they don’t like being in this stay-at-home order and they may have just created the need to lengthen it, which is something we’re trying to avoid at all costs,” she said Wednesday.