Wisconsin Republican Justices Put on Shit Show in Stay-at-Home Orals

Wisconsin Supreme Court entrance at state capitol

Update: "The court’s five Republican justices appeared to have no compunction about ending social distancing rules for the rest of the state’s citizens, even as they conducted their hearing remotely on Zoom," writes Mark Joseph Stern in Slate.

Madison, Wisconsin —The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral arguments this morning on the Republican-led legislature's petition to block Gov Tony Evers administration's safer-at-home Emergency Order, (Wisconsin Executive Orders), (Treleven, Wisconsin State Journal).

Most observers believe the Republican-led state court will rule in the Republican Party's favor, so partisan have Republican justices become.

The legal case is entitled Wisconsin Legislature v. Secretary-Designee Andrea Palm, Julie Willems Van Dijk and Nicole Safar, In Their Official Capacities As Executives of Wisconsin Department of Health Services Respondents. (Appeal Number 2020AP000765), (Case History).

The Legislature wants a Court order, (temporary restraining order), that would bar enforcement of the stay-at-home order issued April 16, 2020, (Wisconsin Executive Orders).

Oral arguments today featured rhetorical, contentions and seemingly outrageous comment by two Republican justices —Chief Justice Patience Drake Roggensack (R) and Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley (R).

Justice Patience Roggensack second-guessed the administration's executive order and mused falsely that the coronavirus mostly impacted workers in meat-packing plants, and not what she termed "the regular folks."

Observes listening in online gasped at what appeared to be Roggensack's false observation implicitly disregarding the health and safety of Wisconsin citizens.

Justice Rebecca Bradley editorialized that the stay-at-home order is comparable to the infamous Japanese internment camps.

And Wisconsin's Republican chief justice just dismissed a coronavirus flare up because it only impacted people who work in meat packing plants and not "the regular folks."

— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) May 5, 2020

Justice Rebecca Bradley, a Republican, just compared Gov. Evers' stay-at-home order to the forced Japanese internment order upheld in Korematsu.

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) May 5, 2020

Attorneys Ryan J. Walsh for Petitioner, and Colin T. Roth for Respondents, argued the case.

On May 1, the Court voted to accept jurisdiction over the case and agreed to hear argument on the following issues, which were set forth in the Legislature’s petition:

The questions before the Court concern alleged overreach by the Evers administration accused of running afoul of Wisconsin statutes through its rule-making processes in its Executive Orders, (Wisconsin Court Headlines).

Republican justices also accused the Evers administration of violating the Wisconsin and United States Constitutions, Executive Orders, (Wisconsin Court Headlines).

The Wisconsin Supreme Court bars in-person oral arguments, using video conferencing instead, due to "health concerns created by the COVID-19 pandemic," (Wisconsin Supreme Court).

The May 5 oral arguments are reproduced below in YouTube by Wisconsin Eye.