Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Vindication in Michigan: A Victory for the Rule of Law
Back in early May, I put up a post entitled Despotism Comes to Michigan, going into some detail concerning Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s seizure of what amounts to dictatorial powers. In it, I suggested two things: first, that the 1945 law under which she claimed to be exercising emergency powers had been replaced by the 1976 law authorizing the legislature to confer on the governor such powers for a limited period of time; and second, that the 1945 law was unconstitutional from the start because it violated the fundamental constitutional principle of the separation of powers by placing the legislative power and the executive power together in the hands of a single person when an emergency had been declared and by leaving the declaration of an emergency to the discretion of that person.
Back in late April, the Michigan Republicans, who control both the state house and the state senate, refused to renew the grant of emergency powers to Governor Whitmer under the 1976 statute and filed suit in state court, arguing that the 1945 act could not be the basis for unilateral action on her part. At the local level and in the appeals court, the Republicans were shot down.
But today, much to my surprise, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that she had violated her constitutional authority by continuing to issue emergency orders after the legislature had refused to renew her powers. And in the process the court ruled that the 1945 act was, as I had suggested, unconstitutional.
In these pages, I’ve occasionally 
Was President Obama’s exchange of five Gitmo detainees for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl illegal? Some conservatives — most notably the editors of the Wall Street Journal — are defending the decision as a proper exercise of Obama’s Commander-in-Chief power. I am not so sure. In fact, rather than a sign of strength, I think President Obama’s decision will ultimately weaken the office over the long run.
With the formation of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, I predict that there will be a constitutional collision between the Obama administration and Congress — one that the executive will eventually win.