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Kimberly Beemer, et al. v. Gretchen Whitmer, Governor of Michigan, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 22-1232 · judgment September 22, 2022


Certiorari denied · February 27, 2023
Pre-decision estimate: 7% cert probability (95% interval 4%–11%)

Before the decision, about 1.7× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and a Sixth Circuit decision below, and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Question presented

The COVID-19 pandemic was as much a constitutional crisis as it was a public health crisis. For years, American citizens, specifically including Michigan residents, were subject to constantly changing orders that imposed extreme burdens on fundamental freedoms in a way that our nation has never experienced in its history. The cost of these burdens is incalculable. Unfortunately, many courts did nothing, abdicating their duty to say what the law is and allowing this frontal assault on liberty to proceed largely unchecked. 1. Is this constitutional challenge to the Michigan Governor’s emergency restrictions that directly infringed fundamental rights moot when the restrictions are capable of repetition yet so short in duration that they evade review and the Governor voluntary ceased the allegedly unlawful action while this lawsuit was pending?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Robert Joseph Muise
American Freedom Law Center

For respondent
Ann Maurine Sherman
Michigan Department of Attorney General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Feb 27 2023
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Feb 08 2023
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/24/2023.
  3. Jan 25 2023
    Waiver of right of respondents Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to respond filed.
  4. Dec 21 2022
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 26, 2023)