The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers’s statewide mask mandate on Wednesday, claiming multiple emergency orders to be “unlawful.”
In a 4-3 ruling, the court said Evers’s order did not meet the requirements of a Wisconsin statute governing the terms of an emergency declaration by the governor, adding that because the Wisconsin Legislature overturned a previous mask order Evers instituted, the current order remains unlawful.
“The Governor cannot make an end run around legislative revocation simply by itemizing a previously unidentified justification for the state of emergency,” the decision said.
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“In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Evers declared a state of emergency on March 12, 2020,” the decision continued. “The legislature never extended it. Accordingly, any orders issued by the Governor more than 60 days thereafter are unlawful and void.”
Judge Ann Walsh Bradley wrote in her dissent from the court’s decision, “This is no run-of-the-mill case. We are in the midst of a worldwide pandemic that so far has claimed the lives of over a half million people in this country. And with the stakes so high, the majority not only arrives at erroneous conclusions, but it also obscures the consequence of its decision.”
Evers’s administration and the state’s Republican-led Legislature have frequently tussled over the use of emergency powers during the pandemic. In February, the Legislature voted to revoke Evers’s mask order, after which, he instituted another.
Several states have either ended their mask mandates or announced that they will not renew them. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced an end to his statewide mask mandate earlier this month, as did Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey will not renew the state’s mandate, which ends April 9.
President Joe Biden urged all states to reinstate mask mandates during an address on Monday.
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The Washington Examiner contacted the governor’s office about the court’s ruling but did not immediately receive a response.
