Maggie's Farm

I don't have any ruling masters. What country do you live in?

Judge Andrew Napolitano: Coronavirus shutdowns ordered by governors and mayors are unconstitutional

That was a big disappointment -- he is or was a judge after all, I expected more than just virtue signalling to an audience of low hanging fruit.



This is a flat out lie. Almost all states have laws (enacted by the legislature) that permit the governor to suspend various rights during a declared emergency. In some states the legislature has to be consulted. Nap doesn't seem to know that actions under these laws have often been challenged and are usually found constitutional. Or, rather he does but this is how he starts his deceptive argument.

The federal constitution guarantees a minimum of protected rights in the sense that the first amendment is a floor rather than a ceiling. Some states, like California, grant even more protections than the federal constitution.

So the issue is whether the governor's exercise of his statutory power is excessive under constitutional standards, and a court looking at challenges will consider the seriousness of the emergency, whether the governor complied with notification/consultation with the legislature, what important public interest being protected, how narrow the infringement is against private rights. Early on in an emergency, the courts will defer to the decisions of the governor. As more is understood about the emergency and the danger lessens, the more likely the challenges are going to be found unconstitutional.

A governor's curfew order with the stated intention to prevent looting in the aftermath of a natural disaster like a hurricane is an infringement on first amendment rights of assembly, but who, besides a few here, would think this unconstitutional? But Nap's argument fits this "muh constitushun" model. Of course I'm not pointing to anyone in particular.

A week or two week long shutdown to prevent the spread of what was feared to a very contagious, very lethal disease is not going to be rescinded by arguments as primitive as Judge Nap's. A very smart eighth grader would be praised for writing Nap's essay, a junior lawyer would be fired on the spot.

Attacks on the shutdown orders in NYC and LA at this point have a better chance at partial success because they are too broad for their purpose. It's also likely that before any lawsuits are heard on the merits, the orders will be relaxed and the questions moot.

My state has just entered phase II. In phase I, gatherings were limited to 10 people, and that included churches. In Phase II, that number expands to 100, but this is seen as a dress rehearsal for greater numbers in a couple of weeks.

The argument about practice of religion is misrepresented. There's a difference between limiting the numbers of people in the pews (which is being done) and banning worship (which is not being done).

Complex, yes, but that's how the real world works once someone steps away from the internet. Nap's essay does more harm than good for the conservative cause, because it presents hard issues as if they are easy and obvious. We -- that is, some of us -- need to be smarter and more articulate than the libtards, and this is especially so when arguing second amendment questions. Painting the opposition as power drunk constitution haters in the pay of Soros/Chicoms is just f'ing stupid.


An Assessment of State Laws Providing Gubernatorial
Authority to Remove Legal Barriers to Emergency
Response (article was from last November)
https://www.nga.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/An-Assessment-of-State-Laws-Providing-Gubernatorial-Authority-to-Remove-Legal-Barriers-to-Emergency-Response.pdf

I'd have rather seen some argument, but if all you can manage is the same ad hom you've used 20 times before, that will have to do.

I can't help it if you're too bloody stupid to understand the adult world you live in. Teaching morons and/or children isn't my job.

If you can't or won't grow up, just stay online, it's a lot safer than the real world. Someone will protect you and you'll get all the reacharounds you need here.

Is that condescending enough?

Who Believes the Lockdowns Were About Science? Genuine epidemiologists questioned the economic interruptions from the beginning.

"Genuine" "my"