In a ruling split along partisan lines 4-3, the Michigan Supreme Court has struck down Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency orders intended to address the coronavirus pandemic. The majority of the orders have already been replicated through emergency orders given to the state’s health department, including mask requirements, restrictions on gatherings and restaurant capacity and other public health standards, and thus are unaffected by the ruling. However, the ruling reverses a lower court’s decision, which allowed Whitmer to use a 1945 emergency law to invoke her authority as governor. The decision also affects the extra 6 weeks of unemployment benefits granted by Whitmer but not replicated in the duplicate orders, with hundreds of thousands of people likely to lose their benefits this week. Another former order allowed local government bodies to meet remotely, forcing some agencies to cancel Monday night meetings last minute.
