# Wisconsin Legislature v. Palm **Wisconsin Supreme Court, 13 May 2020.** The court struck down Emergency Order 28, the "Safer at Home" order issued by Andrea Palm as secretary-designee of the Department of Health Services, holding that it was a **rule** within the meaning of the state administrative procedure act and was unlawful because it had been issued without rulemaking. What the court did **not** decide is the part worth carrying. It did not hold that the pandemic was not an emergency, and it did not review the governor's underlying declaration. It reached the **form of the act** — an agency directive of general application, enforceable by criminal penalty, that had skipped the procedure the legislature prescribed for exactly that kind of directive. Together with [[In re Certified Questions]] in Michigan five months later, the case marks the shape state emergency-powers litigation actually takes: courts decline to second-guess whether an emergency exists, and instead police the **delegation** and the **procedure**. Challenges framed as factual disputes about severity lose; challenges framed as structural or procedural defects win. ## See also - [[State Emergency Powers Crosswalk]] · [[In re Certified Questions]] · [[Nondelegation Doctrine]] · [[Emergency Powers]]