Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center Karen Harned and NFIB Wisconsin State Director Bill G. Smith weighed in following the oral arguments in the case Jeffrey Becker v. Dane County at the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. NFIB filed an amicus brief for the case.
“Small businesses were hurt by the broad COVID-19 emergency orders issued by state executives,” said Karen Harned, Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center. “We urge the Wisconsin Supreme Court to revitalize its non-delegation doctrine to prevent violations of individual liberty.”
“Wisconsin small business owners are still recovering from the COVID-19 shutdown and the state regulations issued by the executive branch,” said Bill G. Smith, NFIB Wisconsin State Director. “We are hopeful the Wisconsin Supreme Court will agree that these orders were government overreach and needed to be voted on instead by the state legislature.”
The case concerns executive unilateral orders. NFIB’s amicus brief calls for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to return to a meaningful non-delegation doctrine that provides substantive limitations on attempts to transfer core constitutional powers and prevents one constitutional branch of government from exercising core powers reserved for another branch.
The NFIB Small Business Legal Center protects the rights of small business owners in the nation’s courts. NFIB is currently active in more than 40 cases in federal and state courts across the country and in the U.S. Supreme Court.
