Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, governors and mayors have been governing unilaterally under the guise of emergency powers. State legislatures and courts have failed to reassert their constitutional roles as co-equal branches of government.
It’s time for legislators and judges to end indefinite one-person rule.
Most states give their governors extraordinary powers in an emergency to protect the public’s health and safety when there is no time for legislative action. These emergency powers may be crucial in uncertain times, including pandemics, but their use must be time-limited and respectful of constitutional rights.
Unlimited, dictatorial rule cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely.
PLF is working with legislatures and in courtrooms across the country to place safeguards on emergency powers and restore constitutional government.
PLF’s model bill, the Emergency Power Limitation Act, provides for three main limits on the use of emergency powers. 1) Emergency orders will expire after a short period of time unless the state legislature extends them, 2) Emergency orders must be narrowly tailored to protect the public’s health and safety, rather than arbitrary and logically inconsistent, 3) Courts must provide expedited review of disputed orders that restrict constitutional rights.
316 million Americans across 42 states lived under stay-at-home orders in response to COVID-19. Unemployment has skyrocketed because of business closures, with unemployment highest in states with more severe shutdown orders. Travel is restricted. Nearly every aspect of life has changed.
Although emergencies may require swift, initial responses from an executive official, time allows legislators to fulfill their constitutional duty as the people’s representatives who make law, and for courts to constrain the worst abuses of power.
The separation of powers framework in our state and federal constitutions is the most important protection of individual liberty. Constitutional checks and balances should not be tossed aside, even in an emergency.
Principled reforms that reinforce separation of powers should include requirements that emergency orders:
Read more on PLF’s Recommendations for Principled Reform
The pandemic is subsiding in America. Masks are coming off. People are gathering. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
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Help us end the practice of unilateral governance under the guise of emergency powers.
