Becker v. Dane County concerns executive unilateral orders
MADISON, Wis. (Feb. 17, 2022) – NFIB filed an amicus brief in the case Jeffrey Becker v. Dane County at the Wisconsin Supreme Court. NFIB urges the Court to revitalize its non-delegation doctrine to prevent violations of individual liberty.
“The recent broad emergency orders issued by state executives in response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the need to revise the non-delegation doctrine to give meaning to the separation of powers,” said Karen Harned, Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center. “Small businesses were often left in a worse position than bigger competitors due to the emergency powers that restricted and regulated small business operations.”
“This case reveals the harm of government overreach when one branch of government yields unilateral orders,” said Bill G. Smith, NFIB Wisconsin State Director. “Small business owners vote in elections at every level of government, and these sweeping and broad orders needed to be voted on instead of issued through the executive branch.”
The 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. NFIB filed the amicus brief with the Pacific Legal Foundation.
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.