Since COVID-19 began, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has issued more than 100 executive orders related to the pandemic, Michigan Capitol Confidential reported.
Some Michiganders are unhappy with Whitmer's orders, which have caused protests in the streets and even a lawsuit -- scheduled to be heard on Sept. 2 by the state's Supreme Court -- which claims Whitmer can't unilaterally declare an open-ended public health emergency and continue issuing orders.
Public health officials, however, have a plan in place in case Whitmer loses that September court battle, which is in the form of "epidemic orders," those that are issued by the Department of Health and Human Services director Robert Gordon and can call for prohibitions on many activities, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential.
Gordon has issued four of those orders since April to very little media attention. In June, he issued an order that allowed local law enforcement and public health agencies to enforce business activity restrictions and have safeguards in place for employees.
The order expressed that everyone in the state had to comply with the rules.
Michael Van Beek, director of research at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, told Michigan Capitol Confidential that Gordon's orders are essentially the same as Whitmer's. He wondered if the department considered them an "insurance policy" for a situation where the governor's orders could be stripped. He also noted that the epidemic response statute was "sweeping and open-ended."
“The law doesn’t appear to place any limit on (the director’s) authority," Van Beek told Michigan Capitol Confidential. "There may have been limits in the minds of the drafters, but the politicians have taken down the guardrails.”
Lynn Sutfin, a spokesperson with the health department, told CapCon that the epidemic orders were meant to reinforce the governor's orders. Sutfin also said that Gordon's June 5 order would remain in place until it was rescinded.
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