Republican Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield announced Wednesday that the state legislature is taking Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to court over her lockdown in response to the COVID-19 panic.
“We’ve attempted to partner with our governor, but she’s rejected. We offered cooperation, but instead she chose court. This was avoidable, but today we filed a lawsuit in our state to challenge her unconstitutional actions. The law in Michigan is clear, and nobody is above it.”
We’ve attempted to partner with our governor, but she’s rejected. We offered cooperation, but instead she chose court. This was avoidable, but today we filed a lawsuit in our state to challenge her unconstitutional actions. The law in Michigan is clear, and nobody is above it.
— Lee Chatfield (@LeeChatfield) May 6, 2020
FILE PHOTO: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer gestures as she welcomes Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden during his campaign stop at Cherry Health clinic in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S., March 9, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
The lawsuit seeks a “speedy hearing” and hopes Michigan’s Court of Claims will assess that Whitmer’s “ongoing ’emergency’ orders are improper and invalid” under Michigan law, The Detroit News reported Wednesday.
Last Thursday, Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended her state’s lockdown until May 28 and increased her executive powers, which caused many to protest.
Whitmer claims Republicans who control the state legislature are endangering lives by encouraging the state lockdown to end when there is still a risk of infection from the coronavirus. (RELATED: Gretchen Whitmer Fires Back At Opponents, Refuses To Sign Any Bill That Limits Her Authority)
“By refusing to extend the emergency and disaster declaration, Republican lawmakers are putting their heads in the sand and putting more lives and livelihoods at risk,” she said in a statement last week. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
Before electing to decide the matter in court, Republicans in the state House and Senate passed resolutions Thursday that seek to limit her authority and reverse her decision to force citizens to stay at home at home. Whitmer said she would veto the bill and any others “that constrain her ability to protect the people of Michigan from this deadly virus in a timely manner,” The Detriot News reported on April 30. (RELATED: ‘No Penalty For Authoritarianism’: Tucker Carlson Blasts ‘Mediocre Politician’ Gretchen Whitmer’s ‘Power’ Grabs)
On Apr. 15, anti-lockdown protesters decided to bring their message to the front door of Whitmer’s house.
Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro called Whitmer “corrupt” and “tone deaf” for hiring a leftist activist group named Great Lakes Community Engagement to assist the Michigan Department of Health to track people in the state who have become infected with the coronavirus.