In America, you are free to do what you please, just do long as what you please doesn’t make a victim of someone else. At least, that’s the general idea behind this unbridled and unprecedented freedom that we share.
This includes smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, driving fast cars, skydiving…you name it.
So when coronavirus came a-knockin’, there were a great many Americans who felt as though they couldn’t reconcile certain local “stay at home” orders against the inherent freedom that they possess.
Those folks just snatched a huge judicial win.
In a 4-3 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the Gov. Tony Evers’ administration’s stay-at-home order.
The ruling “essentially reopens the state, lifting caps on the size of gatherings, allowing people to travel as they please and allowing shuttered businesses to reopen, including bars and restaurants,” the Associated Press reported.
Health secretary Andrea Palm had issued the order, and the court found she didn’t have the authority to do so.
“Rule-making exists precisely to ensure that kind of controlling, subjective judgement asserted by one unelected official, Palm, is not imposed in Wisconsin,” Chief Justice Patience Roggensack wrote in the majority opinion.
Former Gov. Scott Walker praised the court’s decision in a statement to Breitbart News.
“The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the law,” he said.
Then came the most quotable line of the affair.
“The rule of law must be upheld – even in emergencies. I am honored to have appointed two of the Justices in the majority on the 4 – 3 decision.”
One can only wonder if the ruling will open up these local governments for lawsuits from businesses owners who were adversely affected by the shutdowns.
