Over the last five months, we’ve all been affected to some degree by restrictions put in place by various levels of government on businesses, churches, and individuals in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I remain convinced that some of these restrictions are unconstitutional.
My first principle in this conviction is that the Framers were well aware of contagion, yet they did not make any of our constitutional rights contingent upon the absence of one.
Andrew Napolitano has made compelling cases that mandatory quarantines, business shutdowns, and church closures have all been unconstitutional, at least in terms of how they were put into effect.
And the fact that this is not the first time that some of these things have been done in the United States doesn’t make them constitutional, it simply means that our rights have been violated before.
No matter how well intentioned or even how effective these restrictions may have been, we should not allow a government official to trample the Constitution underfoot without taking note of it. Our republic and the freedoms we have enjoyed will not last much longer if our rights are merely something granted to us by governments when it suits them.
This is Brian Myers with your Caffeinated Thought of the Week.
