A state representative says lawmakers need to care more about due process for vulnerable people.
Due process is a legal principle that guarantees individuals can defend themselves against government actions that could deprive them of life, liberty or property.
The topic came up at the Capitol building Monday because of Senate Bill 672. The legislation, which harkens back to the 2020 pandemic, says businesses defined as nonessential should be allowed to testify before the governor.
Democratic Rep. Andy Fugate said the bill is “Monday morning quarterbacking” and the “height of legislative hypocrisy.” Fugate said Republicans need to insist on due process at the federal level.
“I think it’s intriguing to hear this body demanding due process for businesses in the midst of a declared emergency,” Fugate said. “We have a president who says there is no due process for people in the midst of an emergency, that the president himself declared.”
President Donald Trump invoked 1976’s National Emergencies Act in a January executive order declaring an “illegal immigration crisis at the southern border.”
The Trump Administration then used wartime powers through 18th century legislation to deport hundreds of Venezuelans accused of being gang members to an El Salvadoran prison without due process. The use of the Alien Enemies Act was temporarily halted by a Supreme Court decision over the weekend.
During floor debate Monday, Republican State Rep. Jay Steagall described the importance of due process during a 2020 court case when Oklahoma businesses sued Gov. Kevin Stitt. During the case, Stitt’s attorney argued business owners did not have the right to due process during an emergency.
Steagall, who attended the court case, said the judge did not like that argument.
“She corrects him on the spot and says, ‘They absolutely have the right to due process, even during a declared emergency,’” Steagall said.
Steagall continued by saying due process rights are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and the Oklahoma Constitution.
As Trump tests the limits of his executive branch on the national stage, media outlets and scholars continue to debate whether the country is in a constitutional crisis.
Trump supporters say he’s keeping the country safe from dangerous foreign criminals who came to the U.S. during President Biden’s administration, when immigration crossings at the southern border hit record levels
S.B. 672 now sits on Gov. Stitt’s desk.
