The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday struck down months of authoritarian lockdown orders by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that the power-hungry Democrat claimed were aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

The court said that the Nazi-era law Whitmer had cited to assert her emergency powers was unconstitutional.

The decision marked an extraordinary development in a monthslong conflict between Whitmer and the Republicans who control the Legislature.

Since Whitmer first moved on her efforts to consolidate power under the auspices of the pandemic, GOP lawmakers in Lansing have been shut out of major orders that have restricted education, the economy and health care while granting special exemptions to marijuana dispensaries, abortion clinics and the recreational pursuits of Whitmer’s boat-loving husband.

Coincidentally, the court’s opinion emerged on the same day that Whitmer’s critics submitted more than 539,000 signatures in a bid to repeal the 1945 law.