The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Michigan
- Level
- Court
- Authority
- Const. 1963, art. 3, sec. 2 (separation of powers; nondelegation); MCL 333.2253; MCR 2.116(C)(8)
- Issued
- 2023-06-29 June 29, 2023
- Effective
- 2023-06-29
- In force
- June 29, 2023 (no end date recorded; counted as in force for 120 days)
- Limitation types
- Capacity limitGathering capFace-covering requirementOther
- Addressees
- the MDHHS director; businesses subject to the epidemic orders (the plaintiff caterer as a 'food service entity subjected to the regulations imposed by defendant under MCL 333.2253,' at 6)
- Character
- adjudication
- Collection
- Standing duties: Michigan DUT-MI
Operative words
Defendant issued an emergency order on March 19, 2021, under MCL 333.2253, that directly restricted plaintiff's ability to operate its business.... The Order was an exercise of overwhelmingly broad power, substantial in scope and effect, and affecting virtually every aspect of the daily lives and the livelihoods of the people of Michigan.
Penalty
n/a (judicial decision); the opinion recites that the orders carried criminal sanctions (MCL 333.2261)
What it required
Nothing prospectively; the decision records, in a court's findings, that the MDHHS epidemic orders of 2020-2021 were compulsory instruments that 'regulated many of the daily activities of Michigan residents, including their ability to operate their businesses' (slip op. at 2), 'directly restricted plaintiff's ability to operate its business' (at 5), and 'contained criminal sanctions for violators of the Order' (at 14), and it holds, two years after the last general order was rescinded, that the enabling statute was an unconstitutional delegation. Character as recorded: adjudication (emergency order construed).
Retrieval noteHonesty record: this decision cuts against the enabling statute, not against the fact of compulsion. The holding post-dates every quarter in issue; the orders were in force, were enforced with criminal and civil penalties and 'had not been denied legal effect' during 2020 Q4 through 2021 Q2, which is the standard both 2020 liability shields adopt (Exs. MI-056 sec. 5; DUT-MI-015). The opinion quotes the 2020-2021 text of MCL 333.2253(1) (at 10-11) and notes the 2022 PA 274 amendment (at 10 n.5). The Court of Claims had upheld the statute; the Court of Appeals reversed. its factual recitals about the orders' effect on businesses are quotable as the court's own findings on an undisputed record (at 1: 'The facts of this case are essentially undisputed.').