A federal judge ruled that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Letitia James, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio “exceeded” their executive limits by limiting worship services and condoning mass protests as the state continues to reopen from coronavirus restrictions.
U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe issued a preliminary injunction Friday on behalf of two Catholic priests — Steven Soos and Nicholas Stamos — and a trio of Orthodox Jewish congregants — Elchanan Perr, Daniel Schonborn, and Mayer Mayerfeld — in Brooklyn. They are represented by the Thomas More Society.
They filed the suit in the Northern District of New York after mass protests and looting occurred in the Big Apple following George Floyd’s police-related death in May.
Sharpe said De Blasio had “simultaneous pro-protest/anti-religious gathering messages” while he “actively encouraged participation in protests and openly discouraged religious gatherings and threatened religious worshipers.”
“Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio could have just as easily discouraged protests, short of condemning their message, in the name of public health and exercised discretion to suspend enforcement for public safety reasons instead of encouraging what they knew was a flagrant disregard of the outdoor limits and social distancing rules,” Sharpe added.
Thomas More Society special counsel Christopher Ferrara, who represents the plaintiffs, said the state was conducting an “experiment in absolute monarchy” and called on the court to block the “unconstitutional executive orders and their prejudicial enforcement.”
“This decision is an important step toward inhibiting the suddenly emerging trend of exercising absolute monarchy on [the] pretext of public health. What this kind of regime really meant in practice is freedom for me, but not for thee,” Ferrara said in response to Friday’s order.
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Every lockdown order issued by any politician in the name of “keeping us safe” or “stopping the spread” is unconstitutional. Nowhere in the Bill of Rights or Constitution itself does it give any politician the authority to suspend our rights for any reason. The duty of the government is to inform us of the problem and ways to deal with it we can take so we can make informed decisions for ourselves on how to go about our life as free Americans. When our rights are suspended and we allow it, they cease to be rights and become privileges which can be taken away at any time and for any reason or whim by a politician.
A champion for Marxism while denigrating religion.