Wayne County dismisses 1,600-plus violations of Whitmers overturned coronavirus orders – mlive.com

February 1, 2021

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy on Monday announced her office is dismissing more than 1,600 ordinance violations and misdemeanor citations involving violations of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers coronavirus emergency orders that were later determined to violate the Michigan Constitution.

Police throughout Michigan began enforcing various emergency orders that limited social gatherings, commerce and other activity under the authority of emergency orders issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer between April and October, when the state Supreme Court ruled a 1945 law underpinning the orders was unconstitutional.

As a result of the Michigan Supreme Court ruling (the Wayne County Prosecutors Office) conducted a review of the cases and it was determined that there is not a legal basis to proceed with them, Worthys office said in a statement Monday. (The Wayne County Prosecutors Office) will be dismissing all adjudicated cases and all pending cases.

It is important to note that the dismissal of these cases is not a reflection upon the conduct of any law enforcement agency, since the applicable law was followed at the time of the alleged offenses.

Wayne County Prosecutors Office spokesperson Maria Miller said any refunds related to fines or fees will be determined and ordered by the respective courts.

More than 1,600 of the citations or ordinances violations occurred in Detroit. Dearborn, with 71 cases, had the second most in Wayne County.

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in a split decision on Oct. 2 that Whitmer didnt have authority under the states emergency statutes to continue extending the coronavirus state of emergency without the support of the Legislature.

The court declared Whitmer did not have authority under the 1976 Emergency Management Act, and found the 1945 Emergency Powers of the Governor Act that she used to support her unilateral emergency orders was unconstitutional.

We conclude that the Governor lacked the authority to declare a state of emergency or a state of disaster under the EMA after April 30, 2020, on the basis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we conclude that the EPGA is in violation of the Constitution of our state because it purports to delegate to the executive branch the legislative powers of state government-- including its plenary police powers-- and to allow the exercise of such powers indefinitely, wrote Justice Stephen J. Markman in the majority opinion.

As a consequence, the EPGA cannot continue to provide a basis for the Governor to exercise emergency powers.

Shortly after the emergency orders were rescinded, similar rules were reissued by former Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon under emergency state public health laws.

The public health law states that if the health director determines control of an epidemic is necessary to protect the public health, the director by emergency order may prohibit the gathering of people for any purpose and may establish procedures to be followed during the epidemic to insure continuation of essential public health services and enforcement of health laws.

That law has been the basis for ongoing coronaviurs restrictions.

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