Western Wayne Today

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in October that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had enforced unlawful and unconstitutional pandemic-related executive orders. Theories began to swirl and politicians were vocal about the court case being linked to a rise COVID-19 cases and deaths, but this theory has since been debunked.

Ryan Cummings, WXMI-TV anchor in Grand Rapids posted on Twitter, "Forty-one days ago the Michigan Supreme Court ruled against Gov. Whitmer and her executive orders related to COVID. There were 126,358 confirmed cases on that day for the entire year. We are now at 236,225. Nearly double since the ruling," reported Michigan Capitol Confidential. 

University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker tweeted, calling the justices who ruled against the governor "stooges."

COVID-19 cases were already increasing at that point. On Oct. 2 when the Supreme Court issued its ruling, the state of Michigan was averaging 99.2 new cases per day. On Sept. 9, the state averaged 69.1 cases per day. This shows that the state was already experiencing a drastic increase in cases, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential.

Many polls have shown that the majority of Americans are in favor of wearing face masks to assist in slowing the spread of COVID-19. According to a OnePoll survey, 83% of Americans say they always wear a mask when in public, regardless of whether it is enforced by the law. In the state of Michigan, 84% of residents would wear a face mask in public whether enforced or not, which is up from 72% in September.

Whitmer's executive orders were still in effect for another 21 days after the court's ruling. Three days after the ruling, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) enforced a 1978 law, which was essentially allows the MDHHS to enforce the same executive orders that Whitmer had put into effect.

If the state Supreme Court decision had led to a spike in cases in the state of Michigan, it would have witnessed more cases than the surrounding Midwestern states, which didn't happen, reports Michigan Capitol Confidential.