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October 5, 2020 | By BRITTANY BERNSTEIN | National Review
“Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Sunday she would no longer use criminal prosecution to enforce the governor’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions after the state Supreme Court found the orders were unconstitutional.
Other law enforcement agencies or state departments will have independent enforcement authority over coronavirus safety measures, the attorney general’s office said.
Nessel’s announcement came on Sunday, two days after the state Supreme Court ruled in a split decision that governor Gretchen Whitmer’s orders were unconstitutional.
“In light of the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday, the Attorney General will no longer enforce the Governor’s Executive Orders through criminal prosecution,” Nessel’s press secretary said in a statement posted to Twitter. “However, her decision is not binding on other law enforcement agencies or state departments with independent enforcement authority.”
Nessel’s “fervent hope” is that “people continue to abide by the measures that Governor Whitmer put in place – like wearing face masks, adhering to social distancing requirements and staying home when sick – since they’ve proven effective at saving lives,” the statement added.
The court found on Friday that Whitmer’s extension of emergency declarations used to mandate lockdown restrictions which shut down non-essential businesses in the state were unconstitutional, as she did not have authority to issue coronavirus orders past April 30.
The court found she had illegally drawn authority for months from a 1945 law that doesn’t apply.”
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