Judge Rules Against Stay At Home Order: 'People Are Not Being Governed, They Are Being Ruled'

Eric Scheiner | May 27, 2020
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A  judge ruling against Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s stay-at-home order broke down point-by-point why he believes the order has devolved into “insanity."

In a ruling late last week, Clay County Judge Michael McHaney granted a temporary restraining order against Pritzker’s orders for a tanning business that filed suit, but before announcing the ruling, he voiced his opinion on how the governor’s orders were impacting businesses across the state.

“Since the inception of this insanity, the following regulations, rules or consequences have occurred: I won't get COVID if I get an abortion, but I will get COVID if I get a colonoscopy. Selling pot is essential, but selling goods and services at a family owned business is not. Pot wasn't even legal and pot dispensaries didn't even exist in this state until five months ago and, in that five months, they have become essential, but a family-owned business in existence for five generations is not," McHaney said in the ruling.

"A family of six can pile in their car and drive to Carlyle Lake without contracting COVID but, if they all get in the same boat, they will. We are told that kids rarely contract the virus and sunlight kills it, but summer youth programs, sports programs are cancelled. Four people can drive to the golf course and not get COVID but, if they play in a foursome, they will. If I go to Walmart, I won't get COVID but, if I go to church, I will. Murderers are released from custody while small business owners are threatened with arrest if they have the audacity to attempt to feed their families.

These are just a few of examples of rules, regulations and consequences that are arbitrary, capricious, and completely devoid of anything even remotely approaching common sense."

Later in his comments McHaney added, "The defendant in this case orders you to stay home and pronounces that, if you leave the state, you are putting people in danger, but his family members traveled to Florida and Wisconsin because he deems such travel essential. One initial rationale why the rules don't apply to him is that his family farm had animals that needed fed. Try selling that argument to farmers who have had to slaughter their herds because of disruption in the supply chain.

When laws do not apply to those who make them, people are not being governed, they are being ruled. Make no mistake, these executive orders are not laws. They are royal decrees. Illinois citizens are not being governed, they are being ruled. The last time I checked, Illinois citizens are also Americans and Americans don't get ruled. The last time a monarch tried to rule Americans, a shot was fired that was heard around the world. That day led to the birth of a nation consensually governed based upon a document which ensures that on this day in this, any American courtroom tyrannical despotism will always lose and liberty, freedom and the constitution will always win."

The judge's full comments can be read here.

h/t Chicago Sun-Times

 

RELATED: 1,200 Pastors Defy CA Gov Newsom’s COVID Closure, Will REOPEN on May 31

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