Western Wayne Today

The Michigan Court of Appeals dealt Gov. Gretchen Whitmer a blow when opining that her efforts to impose a ban on flavored e-cigarettes lacked a reasonable basis for proclaiming a health emergency.

The court determined that the governor failed to prove the existence of an emergency situation, Michigan Capitol Confidential reported.

While Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief deputy director for health for the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, had declared the emergency in question, the state recorded only three fatalities caused by the condition and the nation 68 through the earlier part of this year.

To put things in perspective, Michigan had three deaths attributed to salmonella infection two years ago.

The ruling sheds a new light on the basis of Whitmer’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, since claims of public health endangerment must be legally required to have thorough justification.

Michigan Capitol Confidential reported that the Court of Appeals ruled “[the] defendants did not produce evidence that an emergency situation existed, such that a period of delay would make any relevant difference in preserving the public’s health, welfare or safety.”

The Whitmer administration suffered another loss in the courtroom when a county circuit judge declined to approve the state’s preliminary injunction to close a barber shop in Owosso.

Similar to its failed e-cigarette endeavor, Michigan failed to prove that business owner Karl Manke presented a public health risk while keeping his doors open during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Detroit News reported that Shiawassee County Circuit Judge Matthew Stewart ruled the threat Manke presented in the state’s eyes “must be actual and not theoretical.”

The 77-year-old barber was ticketed for openly defying Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders but did not face criminal charges. He has been in business for 60 years.