Wisconsin’s top Republican officials filed a lawsuit to end the state’s stay-at-home orders.
Robin Vos, speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, and state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, the majority leader, filed the suit on Tuesday, which will go straight to the state Supreme Court. They’re arguing that the latest stay-at-home order, which Democratic Gov. Tony Evers extended through May 26, is an “obvious abuse of power.”
“The public outcry over the Safer at Home order continues to increase as positive COVID cases decrease or remain flat,” Fitzgerald and Vos said in a statement.
“There’s immense frustration regarding the extension, as it goes beyond the executive branch’s statutory powers,” they continued. “Wisconsinites are forced to sit by with no voice in the process. Other Midwestern states with more confirmed cases, like Ohio, have set firm dates to begin a phased reopening far earlier than the Evers administration.”
The GOP leaders are looking to strip Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm’s ability to make unilateral decisions during public health emergencies and to require her to gain legislative approval before taking action. The suit accused Palm of possessing “czar-like powers.”
“People die every day because of this and the more we screw around with it, the more people die,” Evers told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Political power should not trump life.”
Conservatives hold the majority on the state’s Supreme Court.
Wisconsin held its primaries earlier this month despite several attempts to have the election postponed or conducted via mail out of fears that the coronavirus pandemic could harm voters. Those concerns now appear to have become a reality for several voters after a handful of people tested positive for the coronavirus after voting in person.
