2020 was an unbelievable year. Unbelievably bad.
From political polarization stemming from the election and its suspicious results to the pandemic shutdowns and attacks on personal liberty, possibly the only thing all Americans could agree on was fear of government overreach.
In Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee justified those fears with a record number of proclamations. During his first two four-year terms, Inslee averaged 11 proclamations a year.
But in 2020, he issued a whopping 432 proclamations. Talk about ruling by the pen.
Nearly all of his 2020 proclamations were directly related to Proclamation 20-05, his COVID-19 state of emergency.
Under state law, it was an action he had no authority to take. And the Freedom Foundation, a nationwide public policy watchdog based in Olympia, is ready to argue a new lawsuit challenging his actions.
In Washington, the governor is empowered to issue emergency proclamations pursuant to RCW 43.06.010. However, the law has a narrow definition of “emergency.”
In general, the term refers to a public disorder, (natural) disaster, energy emergency, or riot affecting life, health, property, or public peace.
Moreover, the governor’s declaration of a state of emergency can only be applied within the area where the emergency exits, and the governor “must terminate said state of emergency proclamation when order has been restored in the area affected.” See RCW 43.06.210.
Inslee did none of these things.
First, the so-called COVID-19 pandemic, during which fewer than 5,000 people died in a state with a population of almost 8 million population, was neither a public disorder, disaster, energy emergency nor a riot.
Secondly, the most significant impacts from of COVID were felt only in King County, yet Inslee shut down businesses and ordered residents statewide to wear.
Lastly, even if an emergency ever did exist, it’s now been a full year, but Inslee hasn’t even asked the opinion of the other two branches of government for his actions, let alone terminate the state of emergency once order was restored.
Please tune in to watch the Freedom Foundation defend your right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness this Friday, March 5, at 10:30 am.
Click here for details on how to watch live.
I. INTRODUCTION
“The imperative for Courts to protect
the vital separation of powers between government
actors, no matter how beneficent the
justifications for not respecting these boundaries, is just as
pressing during emergencies as it is
during the normal course of events. Indeed, James Madison
admonished us that “[t]he accumulation
of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the
same hands, whether of one, a few, or
many…may justly be pronounced the very definition of
tyranny,” James Madison, The
Federalist #47, Library of Congress.1
Seizing upon two broad provisions of
the Secretary of Health’s (the “Secretary”) powers
and duties under RCW 43.70.130(7) and
(10), the Secretary issued Order 20-03 (the “Mask
Mandate”), based on Governor Inslee’s
Proclamation 20-05 (“Emergency Proclamation”). The
Mask Mandate places an affirmative duty
on Plaintiffs to wear masks “in any indoor or outdoor
public setting.” If they do not comply,
Plaintiffs risk fines and imprisonment.
The Mask Mandate is a clear violation
of the separation of powers because it is an improper
delegation of power to the Secretary,
based on an improper delegation of power to the Governor.
There is no intelligible principle and
no clear standard to limit the Secretary’s executive power
once the Governor claims a state
emergency. As such, the Secretary’s Mask Mandate is void ab
intio. Furthermore,
the Mask Mandate violates Plaintiffs’ right to freedom of speech, by either
burdening their ability to express
their core political beliefs or compelling them to communicate
support for government policies with
which they disagree.
It is time for the Court to stop this
improper delegation before the usurpation of power,
which has already gone too far, goes
even further. The Secretary’s Motion for Summary Judgment (“Def.’s Mot. Summ.
Judg.”) must fail.” (Read
in full)
I am so happy to see that Governor Inslee is being called out on his Tyranny, long time coming so many people livelihoods destroyed, and students deserving a education better then they have had since last March!
ReplyDeleteWhat happened in court on Criday?
ReplyDeleteThe judge acknowledged that we made strong arguments with good citations but ultimately ruled against us claiming there is reasonable recourse to overturn the emergency authority and that so long as the emergency is in place the government has broad and liberal authority, essentially unlimited power is what the judge said.
DeleteWe are appealing.
Thank you for your efforts! How long does an appeal usually take?
DeleteI was told that we would be lucky if it was less than a year.
Delete