Forest v. Cooper: Arguments Commence in Court Case Over Governor’s Emergency Edicts

RALEIGH –  Governor Roy Cooper established from the outset of the Pandemic Panic, by ignoring the majority opposition from the Council of State, that he was more interested in the powers of one-man-rule, than actually following the law or respecting the Constitutional rights of North Carolinians.

In the subsequent months, Cooper proceeded to forgo any semblance of concurrence in issuing the executive edicts that shuttered businesses, suppressed unalienable rights, and continue to destroy livelihoods across the state.

Somebody had to challenge the despotic behavior of the governor; and who better than the lieutenant governor and Cooper’s 2020 opponent for governor. Tuesday marks the beginning of (online) oral arguments in court case spurred by Lt. Gov. Dan Forest suing Governor Roy Cooper for the latter’s habit of overreach.

Cooper’s attorneys argue that he has the authority under other emergency powers to essentially rule by diktat for as long as the State of Emergency is in place.

Forest’s attorneys contend that there is no such authority to ignore specific requirements for concurrence from the Council of State specifically outlined in the N.C. Emergency Powers Act.

While Cooper ignores legal restrictions placed on the executive, he is all too willing to place unconstitutional restrictions on citizens that quite literally ruin their lives. Want to open your bar? In Cooper’s regime you’re a criminal. If your business is allowed to be open by the great benevolence of the Dear Leader, and you merely resist requiring every customer or client to wear face masks? Criminal.

The legality of Cooper’s orders can only be supported by twisting and torturing statutes to argue that the governor’s arbitrary notion of ‘common good’ supersedes Individual Rights as enshrined in our founding documents.

Hopefully the court will see how backward that reasoning is. Unfortunately, Democrats have come to dominate the higher courts to such a degree that it’s hard to have any confidence that liberal judges won’t hand another political victory to the Left, to the detriment to the rule of law and liberty.