Since the pandemic was declared in early 2020, those living in the United States have been endangered, threatened, and terrorized. But don’t misunderstand – I’m not talking about Covid-19 itself. I’m talking about the overreaction of our local, state and federal governments to the introduction of the Wuhan Virus to our shores.
As early as March of 2020, we noted the over-the-top response of several jurisdictions to the coronavirus, including Champaign, Illinois, where the Mayor “signed a declaration of a state of emergency…among the powers…gained after signing the executive order was the power to ban the sale of guns, ammunition, alcohol, and gasoline.” Under this order, the Mayor of Champaign “could also cut off access to individuals’ gas, water, or electricity. The city also has the ability to ‘take possession of private property’ or order the temporary closing of all bars or liquor stores.’
“The Mayor granted herself these powers, even though (at the time) there was not a single case of Covid-19 in her town, and 32 cases in all of Illinois.”
Extreme government overreach became the norm in the years that followed. By April of 2020, “(t)he Mayor of Washington, DC…threatened criminal penalties for not obeying her ‘stay at home’ orders, including imprisonment up to 90 days, a $5,000 fine, or both…(t)he Governor of Hawaii and the Governor of Virginia…made similar threats…. Several states, including Maine, New Jersey and California, all attempted to close gun stores, claiming they were not ‘essential services.’… in Kentucky, the governor issued an order stopping all in-person gatherings, including festivals, government meetings and church services. California also ordered the closure of their churches, deeming them to be an ‘unessential service.’ The Mayor of New York threatened to permanently close churches and synagogues that did not comply with his orders.”
By July of 2020, “approximately 18 states...mandated wearing facial coverings in public spaces, including California, New York, Hawaii, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Many local governments…mandated masks regardless of whatever rules their state government has promulgated. The Mayor of Boise, Idaho…ordered the use of face masks in public, as did the Mayor of Minneapolis…”
Once “vaccines” against Covid-19 were made widely available, vaccine mandates became the order of the day throughout 2021 and 2022. “’President Joe Biden…announced (on July 29, 2021) sweeping new pandemic requirements…Federal workers will be required to sign forms attesting they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus or else comply with new rules on mandatory masking, weekly testing, distancing and more.’ This follows shortly after ‘California Governor Gavin Newsom announced (on July 26, 2021) that his state will require all state employees and healthcare workers to provide proof of vaccination or be subject to regular COVID-19 testing…Then, on August 18, 2021, ‘Washington Governor Jay Inslee expanded his state’s vaccine mandate to include all education staff, faculty, and on-site contractors. The mandate extends to employees working in K–12 settings, most childcare and early learning, and higher education.’”
In particular, religious objections to the “vaccine” were roundly ignored. “As of November, 2021, ‘The Navy has not yet approved any religious exemptions for the COVID-19 (vaccine)…There were 2,531 requests for religious exemptions, according to the Navy. However, the Navy has not adjudicated all of the request(s)…Exemptions are being handled on a case by case basis…Some sailors have already found out if their request has been denied, while others are still waiting. Those who were denied a religious exemption now have five days, from when they were notified, to start the vaccination process or they face separation.”
But as their legislatures, mayors and President violated civil liberties wholesale, one branch of government made every effort to protect the rights of all – the Courts.
When the Navy rejected all applications for religious exemptions from the “vaccine,” “Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas…granted an injunction against the Biden administration and the Department of Defense, preventing them from enforcing the vaccine mandate against…service members who had applied for a religious exemption. O’Connor ruled that the blanket denial of their religious waiver requests amounted to a violation of the service members’ rights under the First Amendment…”
When the Biden Administration extended the face mask requirement on commercial airliners, even after most airlines called for the removal of the requirement, “at the beginning of May (2022), federal District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of Tampa, Florida struck down the mandate. Her reason? ‘The Court concludes that the Mask Mandate exceeds the (Center for Disease Controls) statutory authority and violates the procedures required for agency rulemaking.'”
“Exceeding statutory authority” has been the basis of almost every court decision striking down government-imposed coronavirus mandates. After the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of the Biden Administration’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program, in a lower court case in another jurisdiction, Brown v. US Department of Education, Judge Mark Pittman of Texas ruled that “the executive branch unconstitutionally exercises ‘legislative powers’ vested in Congress” when it used the HEROES Act as the basis for its Student Loan Forgiveness Program. As the Court stated, “the HEROES Act— a law to provide loan assistance to military personnel defending our nation—does not provide the executive branch clear congressional authorization to create a $400 billion student loan forgiveness program. The Program is thus an unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s legislative power and must be vacated.”
Judge John Wilson’s article concludes tomorrow
Illustration: Pixabay