Siding with a suit brought by Wisconsin's gerrymandered Republican legislature, Wisconsin's Republican- majority state Supreme Court just overturned Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' stay- at- home order extension:
Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, had extended the prohibition on most travel and operations of nonessential businesses until May 26. But in a 4-to-3 ruling, the court said that Wisconsin’s top health official had not followed the proper process in setting the strict limits for residents.
Although the opinion centered on the technical method by which the limits had been set, several conservative justices conveyed their dismay at the restrictions themselves.
“This comprehensive claim to control virtually every aspect of a person’s life is something we normally associate with a prison, not a free society governed by the rule of law,” Justice Daniel Kelly wrote in a concurring opinion.
The ruling, Mr. Evers’s office said, appears to immediately end statewide provisions that have required many Wisconsin residents to stay home. Within hours of the ruling, some taverns were making plans for reopening, the governor’s office said.
[Aside: The quoted Justice Kelly is the asshat that was soundly defeated in a special election on April 7 -- he serves until July 31. Prior to his appointment by the very unlamented former Republican governor Scott "Koch Head" Walker, Kelly was one of the defenders of Wisconsin's racially- discriminatory redistricting plan. And that's just one example of his career in wingnuttery. So he can take his "free society" and "rule of law" bullshit and stuff it up his sociopathic Republican ass.]“This turns the state to chaos,” Mr. Evers said in an interview. “People will get sick. And the Republicans own the chaos.”
While the ruling allows for the Governor and the gerrymandered Republican state legislature to negotiate new stay- at- home guidelines, Republicans in Wisconsin, like those in Washington, are not interested in cooperating when they can undercut Democrats and shift blame for their incompetence and the results of their social Darwinist politics -- so don't expect anything to happen.
At the same time, sixty- nine percent of Wisconsin residents, like sane people in other states, support the Governor's stay- at- home order. But the gerrymandered Republican legislature, with its radical right- wing blood lines tracing back to Joe McCarthy and funded by the Koch machine, is determined to be at the forefront of the second COVID-19 wave (which they will then try to blame on the Democratic administration, of course). But, as Gov. Evers says, the Republicans will own the chaos.
Fasten your seat belts, Badgers.
UPDATE: Fools flock together.
