Freedom Foundation attorneys appeal Slidewaters lawsuit to SCOTUS

Freedom Foundation attorneys appeal Slidewaters lawsuit to SCOTUS

Freedom Foundation attorneys appeal Slidewaters lawsuit to SCOTUS

Attorneys from the Freedom Foundation last week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of its ongoing lawsuit on behalf of Slidewaters, a Chelan, Wash., water park whose 2020 summer season was needlessly cut short by the state’s COVID-19 restrictions.

The petition is based on a nuanced question of law, asking to the court to consider whether a “state legislature’s delegation of unlimited and inherently legislative police power to a state executive violates the separation of powers, particularly where the executive may declare a perpetual state of emergency?”

Several legislatures throughout the U.S. have found themselves in hot water since early 2020 after handing out practically unlimited power to their state executive.

Washington state is a prime example of this, after a statute, as interpreted by the lower federal courts, apparently granted Gov. Jay Inslee essentially unfettered “emergency powers” to deal with the COVID pandemic. 

Slidewaters’ petition is focused on a specific aspect of the 9th Circuit’s decision that found it was neither unlawful nor a violation of the separation of powers doctrine for the Washington State Legislature to have abrogated its own duties to write the laws by handing the governor literally the power of life and death for the business, by drafting, enforcing, and adjudicating his own rules. 

Deputy Chief Litigation Counsel
SPhillips@freedomfoundation.com
Sydney graduated from Liberty University School of Law in 2018 with her juris doctorate. She is a licensed attorney in the state of Washington. During law school Sydney competed nationally on Liberty University School of Law’s Trial Team doing civil trials and arbitrations. Sydney is originally from Canada, so she brings a unique international perspective to all the work she does. Feel free to talk to Sydney about her love of Canada, the Pacific Northwest, or a hot tea.