State leaders consider path forward as Supreme Court considers Safer at Home

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MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) – As state leaders and lawmakers wait for the Supreme Court to rule to either uphold or strike down the Safer at Home order extension, many are looking ahead to the state’s continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes said he was frustrated to hear the badgering of some Supreme Court justices against the Safer at Home order extension during oral arguments Tuesday.

“You heard some very concerning comparisons,” Barnes told CBS 58 in a video interview. “Calling [the order extension] tyranny and another with the comparison to internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II could not be more out of line and could not be more hyperbolic.”

Those comparisons by conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley signaled the conservative majority on the court may side with the Republican-controlled Legislature – leaving the Evers administration to work with the GOP going forward, something Barnes said should have already happened.

“The working together part should’ve happened long ago, it shouldn’t have been just immediately wanting to challenge the executive authority,” Barnes said.

In a webinar hosted by Wisconsin Health News Wednesday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos promoted a regional response to reopening the state.

“Let’s start to turn that dial as opposed to keeping every part of the state as if it were Milwaukee,” Vos said. “Because if we wait for Milwaukee and Brown counties to be the indicators, it’s going to be a long time before Wisconsin can open up.”

The Evers administration, however, is wary of that approach.

“There is nothing, no county line road, no municipal boundary that’s going to stop COVID-19 from spreading,” Barnes told CBS 58.

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