A Wisconsin Supreme Court justice invoked World War II-era internment camps while calling the state’s extended stay-at-home order the “definition of tyranny.”
Justice Rebecca Bradley questioned the order during video oral arguments Tuesday concerning a lawsuit brought by Republican state lawmakers against Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and State Health Secretary Andrea Palm. The state’s administration has ordered its stay-at-home order, which began on March 24, be extended until May 26, according to the Washington Post.
“Isn’t it the very definition of tyranny for one person to order people to be imprisoned for going to work, among other ordinarily lawful activities?” Bradley asked. “The people never consented to a single individual having that kind of power.”
The justice also compared the order to U.S. internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II.
“I’ll direct your attention to another time in history, in the Korematsu decision, where the court said the need for action is great and time is short, and that justified ‘assembling together and placing under guard all those of Japanese ancestry’ in assembly centers during World War II,” she added.
“Isn’t it the very definition of tyranny for one person to order people to be imprisoned for going to work, among ordinarily lawful activities? Where does the Consutution day that is permissible?” – WI Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley pic.twitter.com/hc39VWqPuh #maga #tcot
— Matt Batzel (@MattBatzel) May 5, 2020
Wisconsin’s government is hotly divided, with its Supreme Court and state legislature consisting of mostly Republicans while a Democrat controls the governorship. The state has faced more than 350 coronavirus deaths since the outbreak hit earlier this year.
