Sturgis-Coldwater News

Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) promised during a recent radio appearance that he will continue the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic just as he has been.

What he won't be doing is fighting it as dictated by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's executive and emergency orders, Shirkey said during the Oct. 5 edition of "The Frank Beckmann Show."

A split Michigan State Supreme Court ruled that Whitmer's actions to try to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the state had been accomplished unconstitutionally and without authority.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer | Michigan.gov

"We should continue doing what we've been doing, but we just don't have to do it under mandates and dictates and threatening people," Shirkey said during the radio show. "You know, I've been saying all along that we need to transition from this very oppressive environment of fear that we've been living under since February and March, which was unnecessary, and move toward a time in which we're learning how to manage and live with this virus."

Shirkey said that COVID-19 is no hoax, that it's "highly infectious" and that protocols exist that we should be following.

"But then the way we've been going about doing it, it basically causes the root of American spirit to have this resistance because we just don't like having to be told what to do," Shirkey told Beckmann. "But we're very good about listening to logical arguments and understanding what's happening and then doing the right thing."

Now that the court has made its ruling, Shirkey said the state should transition from Whitmer's orders and take another look at what the state should be doing about the pandemic.

"I think the first thing we should do is identify those few things," Shirkey told Beckmann. "Immunity for health care workers, immunity for businesses, clarifying what the unemployment insurance policies should be going forward and get together -- bipartisan and with the governor -- and pass some legislation that takes out the uncertainty related to those, and use that as the first deposit in the trust bucket to then go forward and work on other things."

The Michigan Supreme Court recently issued a 4-3 ruling saying that Whitmer doesn't have the authority to declare states of emergency, let alone extend them, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Whitmer's "Stay Home, Stay Safe" executive order was issued in March, shortly after the pandemic descended on the state with a vengeance, racking up the third-highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the nation.

The following month, Whitmer issued another executive order expanding "Stay Home, Stay Safe" and has since issued many more such orders in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus.

The state's highest court ruled that Whitmer didn't have the authority to declare a state of emergency or a state of disaster past the April 30 date already approved by the Republican-controlled legislature. The court also ruled that Whitmer's use of the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945 had been unconstitutional.

In a statement issued the day after the ruling, saying she 'vehemently' disagreed with it, that Michigan remained in a state of emergency and that her emergency orders would remain in place for three additional weeks.

Then Whitmer's press secretary issued a follow-up statement saying Whitmer was willing "to work across the aisle with Republicans in the Legislature where we can find common ground" but that she "won't let partisan politics get in the way of doing what's necessary to keep people safe and save lives."

During his comments on "The Frank Beckmann Show," Shirkey argued that Whitmer should live up to her word and work with Republicans in the Legislature.

"Let's figure out how to go forward with this," Shirkey told Beckmann. "Not take exception, not cast blame, not call it partisan, etc. That's not necessarily the way that I would have responded, but we'll learn to live with it."