BY  BOBBIE ANNE FLOWER COX   MARCH 14, 2023

Late in the day on Monday March 13, 2023, just hours before the deadline, New York Attorney General, Letitia James, filed an appeal to try to overturn our successful lawsuit that struck down Governor Hochul’s unconstitutional “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” regulation.  

The case, Borrello v. Hochul, which we won last July, was brought against the Governor and her Department of Health, on behalf of a group of NYS Legislators, Senator George Borrello, Assemblyman Chris Tague, Assemblyman (now Congressman) Mike Lawler, together with our citizens’ group, Uniting NYS.  

The main premise of the case was breach of Separation of Powers – meaning the Governor and her Department of Health did not have the authority to make their dystopian “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” regulation.

The Regulation:

For anyone unfamiliar with this regulation, it allowed the Department of Health to pick and choose which New Yorkers they could lock up or lock down, with no proof that you were ever even exposed to, let alone actually sick with, a communicable disease.  They could have locked you down in your home, or they could have removed you from your home and forced you to quarantine in a facility of their choosing.  

There was no time restriction, so you could have been quarantined for however long they required – days, weeks, months.  There was no age restriction, so they could have done this to you, to your child, to your grandchild, etc.  In the true fashion of a totalitarian regime, they could have told you what you could and could not do while in quarantine.  They literally could have controlled your every move.  

The regulation allowed them to use law enforcement to enforce their orders of isolation or quarantine, which means you could have received a knock at the door from your local police or sheriff telling you that you had to go with them… by order of the Health Department.  

Furthermore, the regulation had no procedure by which you could be released from quarantine, no way for you to try to negotiate your way out.  And it was not COVID19 specific.  There was a laundry list of “communicable diseases” that could have triggered this nightmare loss of freedom – diseases such as Lyme, Toxic Shock Syndrome, COVID19 and so many others.

The Timeline:

We first filed our case in April 2022, and after months of fighting the Attorney General in NYS Supreme Court, Judge Ronald Ploetz rendered his decision in July 2022.  Within days, the Attorney General’s office filed a Notice of Appeal which then gave them six months to file their appeal papers.  We had statewide elections in November, and both Governor Hochul and Letitia James were running for election.  

Interestingly, they did not file their appeal to try to overturn this horrific regulation before that crucial election.  Then, just days before their six months was going to expire in January 2023, they made a request for an additional two months to file their appeal!  Despite our objection, the court granted the extension thereby giving the Attorney General until March 14, 2023 to file the appeal.  Mere hours before the deadline, they filed their appeal.

Press Release:

Here is the statement that was released by plaintiffs Senator Borrello, Assemblyman Tague and Congressman Lawler…

Please help us win this unprecedented fight for freedom!  We need all hands on deck.  There are several ways you can help us.

Author

Bobbie Anne is an attorney with 25 years experience in the private sector, who continues to practice law but also lectures in her field of expertise – government over-reach and improper regulation and assessments.