Stephen Kent in lessons from Star Wars on emergency powers and government

A recent article from me for the Pacific Legal Foundation on Star Wars the abuse of emergency powers by governors across the U.S.

PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION: State legislators who refuse to rein in governor emergency powers are like Jar Jar Binks handing over the Republic to Palpatine

What was a fictional issue in a galaxy far, far away has become a reality in our own republic, as many governors have decided this pandemic has given them open-ended authority to do whatever they deem necessary to mitigate the spread of the virus.

But as we are about to enter the 12th month of this pandemic, many are worried that, much like the emergency in Star Wars, this crisis has no end in sight. Across the country, we’ve faced some tough choices about the appropriate role of government—federal, state, and local—in responding to the greatest global health crisis in a century.

The federal government was rightly deemed an inefficient decision-maker for how localities should respond to COVID, in matters such as school closures and business shutdowns, so governors and mayors stepped in. The sense of emergency in March 2020 was palpable. As such, state legislatures and city councils stood aside to allow state and local executives to exercise their emergency powers.