Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin. (Image: Screenshot from WisEye.org)
MADISON, Wisconsin The pendulum of statewide political power swung back toward the fulcrum on Wednesday when the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that Gov. Tony Evers’ repeated use of emergency declarations to control the COVID-19 pandemic was illegal, thus ending the statewide face-mask mandate.
The ruling in
Jeré Fabick vs. Tony Evers was the latest salvo in a running battle between the Democrat governor, whose COVID-19 mitigation strategy relies heavily on executive mandates, and Republican lawmakers, who have not only refused to approve Evers’ emergencies, but voted in early February to end the latest one. Hours later, Evers
Wisconsin Examiner
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Demonstrators gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford, Wisconsin s gerrymandering case. (Photo by Olivier Douliery/Getty Images)
The conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturns an emergency public health order in the middle of a pandemic even as new COVID cases rise. Writing for the majority, Justice Brian Hagedorn acknowledges that the virus is “dangerous” and has “taken far too many lives,” but the important issue, he writes bolstered by two separate amicus briefs from the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature is that “the power to end and to refuse to extend a state of emergency resides with the legislature even when the underlying occurrence creating the emergency remains a threat.”
Op Ed: Wisconsin Needs Fair Maps urbanmilwaukee.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from urbanmilwaukee.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Wisconsin Senate votes to repeal Wisconsin mask mandate
By SCOTT BAUERJanuary 26, 2021 GMT
MADISON, Wis. (AP) The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted Tuesday to repeal Gov. Tony Evers’ statewide mask mandate, despite warnings from virtually every sector of the health care community that doing so would impair efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Both legislative chambers have to pass the resolution in order to undo the mask requirement. The Assembly, controlled 58-30 by Republicans, scheduled it for a vote Thursday.
The Assembly on Tuesday passed an expanded COVID-19 response bill that may face a veto by the Democratic governor. The bill would prohibit the closure of churches during the pandemic and bar employers from requiring workers to get vaccinated for the disease. The Senate previously removed those provisions from a more limited COVID-19 bill that it passed and that the governor supports.
Wisconsin COVID 19 Update: WI reports 3,046 new coronavirus cases, 36 deaths abc7chicago.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abc7chicago.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.