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Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Jonathan Tukel has died. He was 60. No cause of death has been provided to the public. Tukel was the dissenting judge in the Michigan Court of Appeals upholding Gretchen Whitmer using the Emergency Powers of Governor Act to be a dictator.

"Taken together, these statements by the majority mean that a governor can order anything, forever, a truly striking concept in a democratic republic," Tukel wrote in his brilliant 21-page dissent. (Read it here.)

The Michigan Supreme Court surprised observers by taking Tukel's position and overturning the Emergency Powers of Governor Act. It's very likely that Tukel's meticulously-argued dissent gave them the intellectual basis to do so.

All of the Republican-supported judges on the Supreme Court and none of the Democrat-supported-judges voted to strike down the EPGA. But in the Court of Appeals, Jane Markey, who ran for Michigan Supreme Court multiple times as a Republican, ruled with liberal judge Mike Kelly that it was fine for the legislature of 1945 to give the governor dictatorial power today.

Tukel's term would have lasted to January 1, 2027.

Now, Gretchen Whitmer will have the privilege to appoint a partisan lunatic to replace him for the remainder of his term.