Three legs make a stool stable. Once upon a time, the US had significant economic and social stability because of (1) the legislative branch, (2) the executive branch, and (3) the judicial branch.
Laws aren’t tangible things; they are words on paper that people imbue with power because they are fair and widely agreed upon.
These days, it’s remarkably easy to find jaw-dropping court decisions that don’t even pretend to follow the laws of the land. They are often indistinguishable from virtue-signaling ‘in-group’ expressions so that the judges and prosecutors involved can advance their partisan power or increase their local social standing.
Today’s Off The Cuff podcast with attorney Bobbie Ann Cox starkly illustrates one such case. After whomping the NY Governor and Attorney General in a trial court, Bobbie Ann saw her case not only get appealed but overturned on appeal 5-0.
The case? Challenging the nefarious and deeply concerning laws that the NY Department of Health had passed that gave them the right to quarantine anyone at any time for any length of time in any facility of their choosing (including one’s own home) without having to prove that the involved persons actually had an illness or any communicable disease at all.
The case rested on the Constitutional principle that only lawmakers have the power to pass laws, and that agencies are limited to interpreting those laws. The actions of the NY Health Department wildly exceeded their authority by making rules that were really laws in that they deprived people of their freedom and ability to earn income without any due process remedy available.
The appeals court made the jaw-dropping, comical-if-it-weren’t-so-serious, “ruling” that the three NY lawmakers Ms Cox had as plaintiffs “didn’t have standing” to bring the case and struck down the trial court decision. Well, if lawmakers don’t have standing in a case involving the making of laws, then the laws don’t actually mean anything. They are empty words on paper.
It’s crazy, but here we are…tune in for this amazing interview for more.