The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is asking the Michigan Supreme Court to strike down Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency actions, arguing any such orders she issued after April 30 were illegal. Center Vice President for Legal Affairs Patrick Wright tells WSJM News there are two state laws that the governor has been using to keep parts of the state shut down.
“One of them is a 1945 Emergency Power Act, and there’s a 1979 powers act,” Wright said. “The ’45 act is a little bit narrower. It doesn’t have a time limit to it. So it was created more for things like quelling riots and things along those lines. The ’76 act was created for things like pandemics, but it says that after 28 days, the emergency powers dissipate unless extended by the Legislature.”
Wright says the two laws work together, and when the 1976 act is considered, the governor is bound by a time limit. The Mackinac Center also argues the governor’s orders have been unconstitutional in that there are supposed to be three branches of government. The Michigan Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on September 2.
