Up to 800,000 Michigan residents may lose unemployment benefits
Gov. Whitmer's attempt to extend them by executive order was rejected by a judge
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is facing a crisis in the battleground state if a judge’s orders limiting her power to issue executive orders in the state remains in place.
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According to the Detroit Free Press, Whitmer’s orders were shot down after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled last Friday she didn’t have the authority to use executive orders to continue coronavirus-related provisions. Whitmer used the orders when the state legislature didn’t act to extend a state of emergency after an initial order expired on April 30.
At issue are the social distancing and mask-wearing mandates covered under Whitmer’s executive order, along with the extension of unemployment benefits for over 800,000 in a battleground state.
The 4-3 court ruling was that Whitmer simply didn’t have the authority to issue more than 180 executive orders since April 30, reports Detroit’s Fox 2 News.
“The Governor does not possess the authority to exercise emergency powers under the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945 (the EPGA), MCL 10.31 et seq., because that act is an unlawful delegation of legislative power to the executive branch in violation of the Michigan Constitution. Accordingly, the executive orders issued by the Governor in response to the COVID-19 pandemic now lack any basis under Michigan law,” the court’s ruling said.
On Monday, Whitmer and Robert Gordon, the director of the state’s health and human services, filed motions to both delay implementation of the state’s ruling and to request a rehearing of the case.
“We need this transition period to protect the 830,000 Michigan workers and families who are depending on unemployment benefits to pay their bills and put food on the table and to protect Michiganders everywhere who are counting on their leaders to protect them,” Whitmer said in a statement. She maintains that the extended benefits will be at issue as they are included in the orders related to the virus.
Over 7,000 people have died in Michigan of COVID-19 and cases have begun ticking up again this month. The total number of cases in the state of almost 10 million is 143,000. Yet the Republican-led state legislature has clashed with Whitmer on the legality of the orders and the necessity of statewide coronavirus stipulations.
“What was unconstitutional in May is still unconstitutional in October,” House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, told Fox 2 News. “The fact is that opinion takes immediate effect.”
He says there should be coronavirus regulations in place as established by the CDC, but the businesses should establish and enforce them. Republicans believe any mandates should come from individual counties and indeed, several rushed to put mask-wearing orders into place once the ruling came down.
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Chatfield told Fox2 Detroit that the House will be called back into session to work with governor, something Whitmer says she supports.
“The Supreme Court has spoken, and while I vehemently disagree with their ruling, I’m ready to work across the aisle with Republicans in the legislature where we can find common ground to slow the spread of the virus and rebuild our economy,” she said in the statement. “It’s time for Republicans in the Legislature to get to work and start showing that they are taking this crisis seriously.”
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