Although governments are still overreaching, two courts have pushed back
Every day brings new stories of constitutional violations as politicians double down on placing healthy people on house arrest and stopping almost all economic activity. Where these politicians once promised a two-week lockdown to flatten the curve and protect our medical system, they now speak of endless lockdowns while they "wipe out" the virus or wait patiently for a vaccine. Two conservative courts, however, have clamped down on this overreach, and, it is to be hoped, these decisions will help lead the way to more freedom and less police power.
The most egregious case of government overreach came — again — from Gretchen Whitmer, the power-mad governor in Michigan. By now, she is a byword for arbitrary and capricious edicts. Some make no sense, such as allowing people to buy towels but not flags at Walmart or banning gardeners from working in the fresh air and sunshine. Others are geared to bringing in money (alcohol sales) or advancing leftist goals (uninterrupted abortions).
Most recently, Whitmer picked a fight with a 77-year-old barber who, unable to get unemployment payments, reopened his shop:
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is waging an increasingly high-profile battle against an elderly barber, and he appears to be winning in both the courts of law and public opinion.
Karl Manke, a 77-year-old from Owosso, reopened his shop after he was turned down for unemployment.
Amid the legal threats from Whitmer's administration, he recently responded, "What, are they going to give me? Life? I've got one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. I could care less."
"As long as I have two hands and I'm capable of cutting hair, that's my occupation," Manke said. "That's what I do. That's what I'm going to continue to do."
Having tried and failed to get a restraining order against the barber, Whitmer took matters into her own hands:
After the close of business on Tuesday, Whitmer's administration stripped Manke of his operating license, his attorney said.
"Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has suspended Karl's license," attorney David Kallman told radio host Steve Gruber.
"Not thinking about it, they've actually done it without a hearing, without any due process," he added, saying the action took place some time after 5:00 p.m.
Governor Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, who threatened to destroy anyone who violates his draconian orders, threw his support to his health secretary. Secretary Levine took his mother out of a nursing home even while enforcing the government's policy of sending coronavirus patients to nursing homes. In Pennsylvania, old age homes accounted for 2,529 (or 68%) of the 3,707 reported deaths.
As an aside, Secretary Levine, in addition to believing that rules are for the little people, also thinks he's a woman. It seems that even the laws of nature don't apply to him.
In Wisconsin, however, the Supreme Court struck down Governor Tony Evers's police-state rampage:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down Gov. Tony Evers' order shutting down daily life to limit the spread of coronavirus — marking the first time a statewide order of its kind has been knocked down by a court of last resort.
[snip]
The ruling, for now, immediately throws out the administration's tool to control the disease for which there is no vaccine and comes at a time when Evers has already begun lifting some restrictions as the spread of the virus slows down for now.
The Milwaukee mayor, though, has assured city residents that the lockdown is still in effect.
Lastly, in Texas, the Supreme Court, in reversing the order sending hairstylist Shelley Luther to jail, has written an extraordinary decision. It's one page long and is too beautiful to be summarized. You have to read it yourself:
In Re Salon a La Mode Et Al by Sunny Bookie Berman on Scribd
By the way, have you noticed how prominently hairstylists are figuring in American freedom? It's not just Karl Manke in Michigan and Shelley Luther in Texas. #WalkAway founder Brandon Straka is also a hairstylist. There's something delightfully ironic about that, given the left's obsession with Trump's hair.