Lawsuits Pile Up for Dem Govs Over Shutdown Orders

Democratic governors are proving popular – not with their constituents – but with legal challenges to their coronavirus shutdowns.

Business owners, pastors, citizens, and even state legislators and legislatures are calling foul and suing Democratic governors or their top health officials, Politico reported.

More than a dozen states have seen lawsuits brought against them for shutdowns, including Wisconsin's Supreme Court rejecting Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' statewide shelter-in-place order at the behest of the state's Republican-held legislature.

The only two Republicans facing lawsuits, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine are both critics of President Donald Trump and have ended orders that would render lawsuits against them moot, according to the report.

Among the states at the top of Politico shutdown list:

• Michigan's GOP-controlled state legislature voted against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's extended emergency declaration.
• California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom faces more than a dozen lawsuits from beach to business closures.
• Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills was sued by business owners to end the shutdown.

According to University of Michigan law professor Richard Primus, "it's not impossible" Gov. Whitmer's orders will be thrown out by Michigan's courts.

"The thing about Hail Mary passes is sometimes they work, and sometimes crazy things happen in courts," Primus told Politico.

"A lot of people are trying to make the Michigan case into a big constitutional case about the fundamentals of executive authority and freedoms — that's rhetoric and hyperbole. The case is really just about the right understanding of a statute passed by the legislature.

"And the funny thing about the posture of the case is that the legislature now doesn't like the law that its predecessor legislature enacted."

Those filing lawsuits will have some backing by the Trump administration Justice Department.

"These are very, very burdensome impingements on liberty," Attorney General William Barr told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt last month, per Politico. "We're looking carefully at a number of these rules that are being put into place, and if we think one goes too far, we initially try to jawbone the governors into rolling them back or adjusting them.

"And if they're not and people bring lawsuits, we file a statement of interest and side with the plaintiffs."

• Mike Lindell to Newsmax TV: Churches Under Attack
• Alan Dershowitz to Newsmax TV: Relaxing Civil Liberties Justified