Though somewhat hard to imagine in 2025 with COVID-mania in our rearview mirrors, the truth of the matter is that the highest court in New York, the Court of Appeals, has unbelievably opened the door for quarantine camps to become a reality. I have fought the governor in court for the past three years to prevent quarantine camps from taking hold, and I was successful to some extent (the Department of Health cannot currently throw you into a quarantine facility), but ultimately the State has been given the green light by our courts. A unimaginable travesty of justice!
When COVID-19 hit back in March of 2020, the NYS Legislature (illegally, I might add) gave then-governor Andrew Cuomo the power to make “directives” (read “laws”). Continuing with the illegal trend, Cuomo then passed that power on to the Department of Health (DoH). The DoH then created the “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” regulation, which the public rightly dubbed the “Quarantine Camp” reg. The regulation was not a law, as it did not come from the NYS Legislature. Instead, it was a reg written by unelected bureaucrats who answer to nobody but the bureaucrat or politician who hired them. The reg actually conflicted with our long-standing (full-of-due-process-protections) quarantine law that was passed by the Legislature in 1953. Regs cannot conflict with laws! That is a violent breach of Separation of Powers, which is the cornerstone of our free society.
Details on the atrocities of this reg canbe found in a previous article. But in sum, the Quarantine Camp regulation gave the unelecteds in the DoH the power to pick and choose which New Yorkers they could lock up or lock down, indefinitely, and at any location of their choosing — you had no say. They could have locked you down in your home, or they could have removed you from your home, with the force of police, and stuck you in a quarantine facility for days, weeks, months, etc. No notice was required, so they could have knocked on your door during family dinner and removed you from your home without any warning whatsoever. You did not have the right to an attorney until after you were locked up or locked down. There was no age restriction, so they could have done this to you, or your child, or grandchild, or elderly parent… And the most shocking part of this reg was that they did not even have to prove you were sick! Guilty until proven innocent — the very antithesis of the principle upon which our nation’s judicial system is based.
So, when I became aware of this dystopian nightmare of a reg a few years ago, after realizing that none of the so-called traditional “civil rights” organizations would touch it, I sued Governor Kathy Hochul and her DoH on behalf of a group of NYS Legislators and a citizens’ group, Uniting NYS.
After months of battling it out in the trial court, on July 8, 2022, the court ruled that the “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” regulation was unconstitutional and “violative of New York State law as promulgated and enacted, and therefore null, void and unenforceable as a matter of law.” The judge also made note that, “[i]nvoluntary detention is a severe deprivation of individual liberty, far more egregious than other health safety measures, such as requiring mask wearing at certain venues. Involuntary quarantine may have far-reaching consequences such as loss of income (or employment) and isolation from family.”
Stunningly, Governor Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James appealed the decision. Yes, that’s right… the governor and AG, both unabashedly support insanely unconstitutional quarantine camps!
On September 13, 2023, over 400 showed up at the appellate courthouse to witness the battle first hand. It was indeed historic — never do people take a day off of work, flock by the hundreds, and cram into a courthouse to hear a couple of lawyers go at it in a courtroom devoid of witnesses, TV cameras, and all of the other pomp and circumstance that, for example, a high-profile criminal trial might have. It was a true testament to freedom-loving citizens of a state that is wrought with corruption and greedy politicians on both sides of the aisle.
Emanphoto.com
In November 2023, the panel of five appointed judges disgracefully reversed my trial court victory, and then dismissed the case! They dismissed, not because we were wrong in our arguments… No, instead the court copped out and used an age-old dodge, ruling that my plaintiffs lack standing! With the majority of my plaintiffs being NYS legislators, it was absurd for the court to claim these lawmakers had no standing to fight against a regulation that usurped their lawmaking power.
Emanphoto.com
The decision not only lacked logic, it lacked integrity, and it flew in the face of longstanding, binding case law from our highest court.
Not wanting to back down, in January 2024, I filed my appeal with the Court of Appeals which is our highest State court. In May, that Court denied my appeal, saying there was no automatic right to be heard because the case, get this, had no constitutional issues. Unbelievable! A lawsuit about a regulation that breaches Separation of Powers and violates our Constitution doesn’t have a constitutional issue in question? Another terrible decision.
My last hope was to file another motion with the Court, this time asking them to hear the case on their own volition, you know, because it’s good for humanity and the integrity of this Court not to allow an agency to override our laws and throw people into camps without due process, etc. Sounds rather noble, doesn’t it? Well, not to an unnoble court, for a few weeks ago they issued their decision… The Court refused to hear the appeal. Period. Case closed.
Unreal.
And so, my three-year-long battle against the elitist Governor of New York (whose approval rating now hovers around 30%) and her lawless Department of Health, is over. The silver lining is that my victory of eliminating their heinous “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” reg back in 2022 still stands today, despite the appellate court’s ruling. Here’s why: The reg was an “emergency” reg that the DoH was working to make permanent. Since I successfully got it struck down before they could make it a permanent reg, the regulation does not exist today. Amen.
However, thanks to the Court of Appeals allowing the appellate court’s decision to stand, the DoH is now free to reissue their dystopian reg. “Fire at will,” is what these courts have metaphorically told the Administrative State. There is nothing stopping the tyranny of the Executive Branch and its unconstitutional DoH now.
Bobbie Anne Flower Cox is a New York attorney in practice for over 25 years, a legal commentator on multiple news outlets, and a Fellow at the Brownstone Institute. You can follow her work at http://www.AttorneyCox.Substack.com and http://www.CoxLawyers.com and on X at @Attorney_Cox
Jesus Christ is King
Comments are closed.