Wisconsin Supreme Court rules against governor’s mask mandate extension
The vote was a narrow 4-3, but the court found that Governor Evers needed legislative approval to extend the mandate.
What opinion do you think the author of the AP article wants you to hold? Let’s look at the lede:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ statewide mask mandate on Wednesday, stripping the governor of one of his last remaining tools to curb the spread of the coronavirus as the state stands on the precipice of another surge in infections.
Poor Governor Evers, stalwart in trying to protect the people of Wisconsin from the plague, and cruelly thwarted and deprived of one of his last remaining tools in that battle, as the state stands on a precipice about to tumble over the cliff and be smashed on the rocks.
Pay no attention to that vaccine behind the curtain.
Oh, and in particular pay no attention to these charts showing the rates of daily COVID deaths and daily COVID infections in Wisconsin have plummeted since January of 2021. Note also, when you look at those charts for Wisconsin, that it was only after Evers issued his mask mandate extension in August that death rates in Wisconsin really climbed. I’m not saying that is why they climbed, but the fact is that they did.
The AP article follows that lede by pointing out that the Supreme Court there is conservative-majority:
The conservative-leaning court ruled 4-3 that Evers violated state law by unilaterally issuing multiple emergency orders to extend the mandate for months. It found that Evers needed legislative approval to issue more orders after the expiration of the initial 60-day mandate he issued in August.
“The question in this case is not whether the governor acted wisely; it is whether he acted lawfully. We conclude he did not,” Justice Brian Hagedorn wrote for the majority.
The decision marks another legal defeat for Evers. The state Supreme Court in May struck down his stay-at-home order, finding that his health secretary lacked the authority to issue such an order. A state appeals court blocked Evers’ attempts to limit capacity in bars, restaurants and other indoor places in October.
I would be more encouraged by this decision if some of the liberal justices had joined the majority, but I’m not the least bit surprised that they didn’t.
The evidence in favor of the efficacy of masks being basically non-existent, this controversy has degenerated into a purely ideological argument, with rabidly partisan leftists vilifying the “anti-maskers” as “evil science-deniers” when, in fact, it is they who are hostile to any debate which is based on facts and conducted with reason and logic. It is as pure an example of the hollowness and the stupidity of virtue-signaling, simply in order to demonstrate so-called moral superiority, as is the belief that various recent attacks against Asian-Americans, almost without exception committed by blacks, result from Trump’s rhetoric, from the bigotry of conservatives, or from a wholly imaginary system of “white supremacy.”
“The question in this case is not whether the governor acted wisely; it is whether he acted lawfully. We conclude he did not.”
This is about justice, following the laws enacted by representatives of the people. But justice is rapidly evaporating, leaving behind only lies supporting tyranny. The statement by one of the (lib) trio on the bench does not speak to justice, but ignores it, by complaining that a valuable, disease-controlling (HA!) tool, the mask mandate, has been seized from the governor.
OMG, how will they ever survive ? Wisconsin’s Covid infections peaked 4.5 months ago and have been falling ever since. And their death rate is better than 32 other states. Yeah, they definitely need more “tools” to combat the virus.
The CDC’s chart on their nationwide antibody testing was updated a couple days ago.
Nationwide Commercial Laboratory Seroprevalence Survey
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#national-lab
Wisconsin is at a 28.4% antibody positive rate which is higher than most states.
Illinois is at the top with 33.3% positive, and Ohio is a close second.
The most surprising is the bottom end. Vermont has only a 1.1% antibody positive rate, with Maine at 3.4%. New Hampshire is at 7.5% which low but not crazy low.
Cannot the people of Wisconsin continue to wear masks if they so choose? Let the people decide! What a concept.
Francesca – Note the AP story said this was the last tool in Evers tool box because earlier the courts struck down many of his other “Fauci Fantasies” measures. A virus is going to do what a virus does. Spread until herd immunity is reached. Now Michigan has surging cases despite Frau Whitmer’s best diktats. Simply put people are mingling and the young and healthy are getting sick and recovering. Some are being hospitalized and those with co-morbidity is causing some to die despite our best therapeutics. Harsh but true.
This is a really bad flu. I personally lost two dear family members that had co-morbidities. Everyone in my nuclear family got it and recovered. If the virus had been allowed to work among the least vulnerable like kids and college students in the spring and summer maybe the herd immunity would have shielded them.
All this unnecessary societal damage occurred because of Orange Man Bad disease. There should be a psychological dis-order added to the registry of dis-orders called “Republican President Derangement Syndrome”. The cure is to remove that person from any position of authority or influence until a Democrat become president and then slowly release them back into society.
“as the state stands on the precipice of another surge in infections”
And infections are bad because ….?
On my local NextDoor, for most of a year now, there is constant blubbering about infections. This would make sense if being infected was a virtual death sentence.
It isn’t, not by a long shot.
What is wrong with these people?
Bush Derangement Syndrome
Trump Derangement Syndrome
Covid Paranoia
It’s just bizarre.
My brother sent me a chart that purported to be a Pew Trust official survey. People were asked if a doctor or other healthcare worker had ever told them they suffered from a mental health condition.
The most severely affected group was over 50%(!) and consisted of females with liberal political views whose age ranged from age 18 to 29.
“The most severely affected group was over 50%(!) and consisted of females with liberal political views whose age ranged from age 18 to 29.”
And now for my sexist statement. Disclosure: I’m the father of 2 wonderful daughters who did quite well academically and also were gifted athletes, and now becoming successful adults.
I can trace the decline of the college I worked at as starting in the early 2000’s as the school began to hire more women faculty, at or just pass that 29 age, with liberal/leftist views. That school, and much of academia is now dominated by such people, and I place the blame on the total decline of higher ed at the feet of these mentally unstable harridans. The remaining male faculty are too intimidated by them to ever resist. The Star Trek Borg Queen and her drones is an apt analogy.
physicsguy:
I agree that more women in academia has made things worse. But the problem was firmly in place long before women had much of a role there at all. Just read Allan Bloom’s description of the events at Cornell in 1969 (in Closing of the American Mind), when there were few female professors or administrators at a high level, and you’ll see something surprisingly close to the same situation as today.
}}} I’m not saying that is why they climbed, but the fact is that they did.
But… but… but…. Just think of how much they would have climbed if he HADN’T mandated masks!!!
This is what we call “Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc”.
A different form of “What we have here, is ‘failure to communicate’…”
^^^ Yes, that is the correct quote. There is no “a” in it. 😉
The liberal brain is failing to communicate with the rest of the universe in a valid and functional manner. But then, with liberals, that’s considered a **feature**