Frequently Searched

Shutting Down California’s Shutdowns

December 31, 2020

December 31, 2020
By Jon Riches

The Goldwater Institute today joined with officials from San Bernardino County, California, to urge that state’s Supreme Court to hear a case challenging the legality of Governor Gavin Newsom’s most recent stay-at-home order. 

Last March, Newsom issued the first stay-at-home order, telling California’s 40 million residents to stay inside their homes unless they were performing activities the Governor deemed “essential.” That order is now on its third extension, and it has mandated that countless businesses, schools, and churches be closed in the nation’s most populous state. 

State courts have already signaled that Newsom’s orders exceed his authority, even under California’s broadly written Emergency Services Act. Judges in Sutter County and San Diego County have declared the business shutdowns unlawful, and although those cases are now being appealed, sheriffs in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and other counties have announced that they will not enforce the orders.

On December 15, San Bernardino County filed a lawsuit in the California Supreme Court, asking the justices to invalidate the orders. Among other things, it argues that the Governor and other executive branch officials have exceeded their authority under the California Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine, by making and enforcing rules without legislative involvement.

With the assistance of American Freedom Network Attorney Scott Street, the Goldwater Institute joined in asking the California Supreme Court to take this important case. Goldwater’s American Freedom Network is our national network of volunteer attorneys, in all 50 states, who defend Americans’ constitutional rights and litigate for liberty.

In its amicus curiae letter, the Institute notes that state constitutions frequently provide greater protection for individual liberty than the federal Constitution. This is particularly important in the context of the separation of powers doctrine, which ensures that no branch of government exercises the authority of another. In this case, California’s executive has exercised unprecedented and extraordinary powers to regulate private conduct across the state—and to do so into the indefinite future. 

Like other states, California adopted its Emergency Services Act with a sudden, catastrophic, and temporary emergency in mind. It was designed to allow executive officials to protect the public during a short period, until order could be restored, or until the people’s elected representatives could convene to work out new rules to deal with a new state of affairs. The Act was never intended to work as a permanent substitute for the ordinary constitutional process. As the pandemic enters its second year, it’s long past time for that constitutional order to be restored.

If you are an attorney interested in participating in the American Freedom Network, you can find more information here. If you’re a citizen who needs help defending your rights, you can find more information here.

Jon Riches is the Director of National Litigation at the Goldwater Institute.

 

 

More on this issue

Donate Now

Help all Americans live freer, happier lives. Join the Goldwater Institute as we defend and strengthen freedom in all 50 states.

Donate Now

Since 1988, the Goldwater Institute has been in the liberty business — defending and promoting freedom, and achieving more than 400 victories in all 50 states. Donate today to help support our mission.

We Protect Your Rights

Our attorneys defend individual rights and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Need Help? Submit a case.

Get Connected to Goldwater

Sign up for the latest news, event updates, and more.

Wait! Don’t close this yet!

We are grateful for your support of the Goldwater Institute’s efforts to advance and defend liberty throughout the United States. For over 36 years, we’ve been defending the rights of Americans to live their lives free from government interference.

And Goldwater is unique in that we direct our efforts to the 50 states where we introduce and advance innovative ideas that expand freedom. And we fight in courtrooms and capitals nationwide to defend individual liberty.

In 2024 alone, we scored over 50 policy and litigation victories defending liberty!

And that’s just the beginning.

Our plans for 2025 include:

  • Stopping pernicious DEI and other woke programs in America’s universities.
  • Ensuring that patients suffering from rare and terminal diseases have access to cutting-edge, lifesaving medical treatments, without having to first seek permission from the government.
  • Defending parental rights across the United States so that parents can send their kids to the school that best fits their needs, free from leftist indoctrination.
  • Eliminating government interference in the fundamental right of individuals to own property and use it as they see fit.
  • And much, much more

We seek to restore the presumption of liberty; that people are free to act without first asking permission from the government.

But we cannot do this without you. Will you join us as we fight to preserve and advance liberty throughout the country? As we seek new and innovative ways to defend freedom in all 50 states?

And there’s great news: Thanks to a generous Goldwater supporter, your donation today will be doubled!

So please, join us in fighting to advance liberty and score real wins for freedom from coast to coast!