MADISON, WI (WSAU) A ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court says Dane County’s health director overstepped her bounds when she ordered public and private schools closed last fall during the COVID pandemic.
A parent of two students at a private school, Our Redemer Luthern of Madison, sued. The court’s 4-3 ruling held that Janel Heinrich’s emergency order “…violates the Petitioners’ fundamental constitutional right to the free exercise of religion; it cannot stand.”
The emergency order was issued last August, days before the new school year was to begin. It ordered all public and private schools closed in Dane County for grades 3-12. The court issued a temporary injunction the following month. Oral arguments were heard in December. The court’s ruling came on Friday morning.
All four conservative justices on the state Supreme Court ruled against the emergency order. Three liberal justices would have allowed the order to stand.
Heinrich issued a statement after the decision: “The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that local health officers cannot close schools within their jurisdictions. We are extremely disappointed in the court’s decision, which has much further-reaching implications than just this current pandemic. This decision hinders the ability of local health officers in Wisconsin to prevent and contain public health threats for decades to come… Despite this ruling, Public Health Madison & Dane County will continue to provide guidance and recommendations for school districts in the county and will continue using all available tools to slow the spread of disease.”
The state’s highest court has also ruled in a separate case that Governor Tony Evers cannot issue successive emergency orders without the approval of the legislature.
