NEW YORK CITY — New York’s Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul is fighting to bring back a draconian COVID-era rule that could lock people up in quarantine camps indefinitely and without due process.
The rule, 10 NYCRR g 2.13, Isolation and Quarantine Procedures, gave the state’s health commissioner the right to use force to detain and involuntarily commit people to institutions, should they be deemed a risk to public health.
STRUCK DOWN LAST YEAR
A year ago, the regulation was struck down by the New York Supreme Court, which stated that according to the rule, the state health commissioner “has unfettered discretion to issue a quarantine or isolation for anyone, even if there is no evidence that person is infected or a carrier of the disease.”
In a scathing decision, Justice Ronald D. Ploetz ordered the rule null and void.
“While Rule 2.13 provides that isolation and quarantine must be done ‘consistent with due process of law’ and the detainee has the right to seek a judicial review and the right to counsel, these protections are after-the-fact, and would force the detainee to exercise these rights at a time when he or she is already detained, possibly isolated from home and family, and in a situation where it might be difficult to obtain legal counsel in a timely manner. Rule 2.13 merely gives ‘lip service’ to Constitutional due process.”
But governor Hochul is now trying to have it reinstated by appealing the case.
“UNCONSTITUTIONAL POWER GRAB”
Attorney Bobbie Anne Cox has been fighting the governor since the inception of the rule. The forced quarantine regulation is not a law, but a “rule” – it has not been adopted by the New York State legislature. Instead, it’s being pushed by the governor and her administration.
“The fact that the attorney general is using people’s hard-earned tax dollars to bring this appeal is sinful,” she recently said during a podcast appearance, adding: “In New York, we have one-party rule on steroids. We have to end this absolute power, that’s the bottom line.”
The appeal, filed by far-Left New York Attorney General Letitia James, is scheduled to be heard in court on September 13.
"This unconstitutional power grab must be stopped in its tracks. If Rule 2.13 is allowed to stand, I guarantee that we will see more frightening intrusions on our civil liberties in the years ahead. I am calling on the Governor and the Attorney General to accept the court’s ruling and stop this waste of taxpayer resources on this futile fight," New York Republican Assemblyman Chris Tague said in a statement to Fox News in March.
