Hawaii Extended Quarantine Orders Violate Law, Residents Say

A group of Hawaii citizens have filed a lawsuit against Hawaii’s governor and attorney general, saying a recent quarantine extension violates the U.S. Constitution.

The plaintiffs allege that on March 4, 2020, Governor David Ige issued a proclamation declaring a state of emergency due to the spread of COVID-19, which was supposed to extend to April 29, 2020.

The lawsuit claims that Gov. Ige and the Hawaii Attorney General Clare E. Connors then issued a series of “supplements,” which extended the proclamation beyond the statutory 60-day limit.

The governor has exceeded his authority, and the proclamation and the “supplements” should be declared null and void, the coronavirus lawsuit states. The plaintiffs are asking the court to relieve any person of potential criminal liability in accordance with the supplemental proclamations.

The coronavirus lawsuit is also seeking a judicial intervention to stop the governor and the state from continuing to impose a shutdown, in-home detention, self-quarantine, the closing of private and public facilities, and prohibition of travel within any of the islands of Hawaii.

“The Governor’s Proclamation, the succeeding Supplements, and the associated Executive Orders, all purport to have the force and effect of law, carrying criminal misdemeanor penalties for violations, when none of these official documents has lawful authority anymore after May 3, 2020,” the lawsuit goes on to say.

Plaintiff For Our Rights states that they are currently suffering the effects of the governor’s proclamation, supplements, and executive orders, and unless relief is granted by the court, they will continue to suffer. 

The plaintiffs state that the March 4, 2020 proclamation did not provide any data indicating the number of citizens in Hawaii who had tested positive for COVID-19 or who had shown signs of COVID-19 infections. The proclamation stated that there were at least 108 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States, but did not point to one death because of the virus, the plaintiffs claim.

The lawsuit says that on March 21, 2020, the governor issued Executive Order 502 which declared that any individual violating the rules of the quarantine will be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, the person will be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned for not more than a year.

In addition, the self-quarantine order issued by the governor prevented tourist visitors to any and all of the Hawaiian Islands because it imposed a 14-day quarantine upon every visitor’s arrival. Any visitors allegedly had to identify to authorities the location of the self quarantine, and remain in that self quarantine for 14 days, the lawsuit goes on to state.

“The people of the State of Hawaii have suffered massive unemployment, loss of business, loss of income, home foreclosures, lease delinquencies, and loss of economic and financial opportunities, in amounts to be drawn from publicly available data when it is made public,” the lawsuit states.

Christina Cole, one of the plaintiffs in this case, asserts that she has suffered anxiety, prevention of travel to see family, lost employment, lost mental health care, emotional distress, depression, and social exclusion.

In addition, Misty Cluett and Eric Cluett, other plaintiffs in this lawsuit, proclaim that the executive orders have directly interfered with their travel back home to the island, have deprived them of the opportunity to see their daughter who lives out of state, and loss of $70,000 or more in revenue to family owned business.

The plaintiffs claim they have a fundamental right to travel interstate and that all citizens enjoy a “fundamental right of free movement” and a “fundamental right to interstate travel.”

They aver that the governor’s May 18, 2020 proclamation violates the fundamental right to interstate travel by denying any individual from entering any Hawaiian island, even an uninhabited island.

In addition, the plaintiffs go on to say that the governor’s May 18, 2020 supplement violates the fundamental right to freedom of movement and interstate travel by denying any individual the right to travel to another Hawaiian island.

“By imposing a mandatory 14-day quarantine that amounts to house arrest of the traveling individual upon arrival in the Hawaiian island, without establishing the individual committed a crime, the May 18 Supplement denies the individual’s basic human liberty without due process,” the lawsuit says.

Also, the plaintiffs maintain that the freedom of movement on and among the Hawaiian islands is a necessary foundation of the distinctly freedom and nature loving Hawaiian way of life. The May 18 proclamation denies the individual’s basic human liberty without due process, the lawsuit argues.

Do you live in Hawaii and think that your basic rights have been taken away with the quarantine extension? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiffs are represented by Marc J. Victor of The Freedom Law Firm.

The Hawaii Coronavirus Class Action Lawsuit is For Our Rights, et al. v. David Ige, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-00268, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.

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