Michigan county declares itself to be a sanctuary for ‘constitutional rights’

A county in western Michigan has declared itself to be a “constitutional county” in an try to protect its residents from authorities’ overreach on the state and federal stage.

On Tuesday, greater than 100 individuals spoke earlier than the board of commissioners to share their ideas on a couple of measures to make Ottawa County — which is positioned between Grand Rapids and Lake Michigan — a “constitutional county.” After a number of hours of public statements, the measure was handed overwhelmingly, 9-1. The one dissenter was the lone Democratic commissioner, Doug Zylstra, and one commissioner was absent.

The decision to guard constitutional rights within the county took place largely due to a grassroots marketing campaign that succeeded in electing conservative commissioners. Ottawa Impact, a 501(c)(4), started as a way of eradicating the “progressive” Republicans on the board who had failed to guard their constituents as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and others shut down companies and imposed onerous masks mandates on college kids in 2020.

The group has since expanded its imagination and prescient and now seeks to “construct an organized, unstoppable, parent-led voter bloc to elect Professional America, Professional Freedom, Professional Parental Rights, Professional Life, Professional Little one Innocence, and Professional Training candidates in native elections who will defend American values—after which maintain their ft to the fireplace.”

Ottawa effect has certainly had a sizeable effect on Ottawa County. First, the commissioners, lots of whom had been elected in 2022 with the assistance of OI, ended the county’s DEI workplace and adjusted the motto of the board of “The Place Freedom Rings.” Now within the new “constitutional county” measure, the board guarantees to not “authorize or applicable new funds, sources, workers, companies … or workplaces for the only function of imposing any statute, legislation, rule, order or regulation that restricts the rights of any law-abiding citizen affirmed by America Structure.”

“As we wrote this decision to declare Ottawa County to be a constitutional county, we acknowledged the necessity to defend not solely Second Modification rights but all constitutional rights,” stated Ottawa County Co-Chair Sylvia Rhodea.

The measure additionally features a stipulation that the board will respect “the Ottawa County Sheriff and the Ottawa County Prosecuting authority” and “their respective oaths of workplace” — as long as they act “in a constitutional method.” Ottawa County Prosecutor Lee Fisher acknowledged that the measure “is not going to affect the way in which the prosecutor’s workplace conducts enterprise.” Sheriff Steve Kempker reportedly made comparable feedback.

Critics say that the measure is generally symbolic, and a few attorneys have claimed that it can’t supersede state or federal legal guidelines. “There’s no foundation for that wherever both within the state of Michigan or the U.S. Structure,” stated Michael McDaniel, a legislation professor at Western Michigan College-Thomas M. Cooley Regulation College.

And lots of the audio system at Tuesday’s assembly vehemently opposed the measure, actually because it reaffirms the best to maintain and bear arms, and Gov. Whitmer has simply signed an invoice that severely restricts gun ownership rights within the state within the wake of the horrific taking pictures at Michigan State University earlier this 12 months. Timberline Mazeikis, who attends MSU, made an emotionally laden plea to not enable her hometown of Holland to be misplaced “to gun violence.”

Regardless of their disapproval, the measure was handed, prompting many in attendance to erupt with applause. A replica of the measure may even quickly hold within the board’s assembly room to remind commissioners “that the constitutional rights of the individuals of Ottawa County shall be preserved and guarded as the primary precedence.”

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