It would possibly be an unconstitutional law, but it is also probably an allowed emergency executive power. Anyone care to wager whether state bans on gatherings will be challenged and struck down? The one I looked most closely at was that the Washington State Governor announced a blanket ban on gatherings of more than 250 people, and called on the National Guard to enforce if necessary. That’s a very direct violation of the first amendment right to assemble, and I’d give odds that it’ll be upheld. There have been further restrictions and stay-at-home orders, but they’re not as clear about violating this right.
Oh, the order specifically prohibits religious gatherings over this size, so it ticks that box too.
I’m 30% sure that, if a legal challenge is filed, it will be dismissed as moot because by the time a judge hears the case, the emergency will be over and the emergency orders rescinded. Most of the remaining chance is on “The court does not rule on the merits for a specific reason that I don’t predict”, and the courts ruling on the merits of the ban, given that someone challenges it, seem very unlikely.
Frankly, my civic position is that the current situation is one in which temporary government overreach is appropriate, but I’m also experiencing a thing where I want to reject the precedent that the government *saying* that there’s an emergency is sufficient to invoke unconstitutional powers.
I can actually have it both ways: What is sufficient for the emergency unconstitutional powers to be invoked is the *public* acknowledging that there is an emergency. But that terrifies me, because by around week 15 of the lockdown a large segment of the public is going to believe that there is no longer an emergency worth those powers, and the Just Rebellion Against the Tyranny will begin.
It would possibly be an unconstitutional law, but it is also probably an allowed emergency executive power. Anyone care to wager whether state bans on gatherings will be challenged and struck down? The one I looked most closely at was that the Washington State Governor announced a blanket ban on gatherings of more than 250 people, and called on the National Guard to enforce if necessary. That’s a very direct violation of the first amendment right to assemble, and I’d give odds that it’ll be upheld. There have been further restrictions and stay-at-home orders, but they’re not as clear about violating this right.
Oh, the order specifically prohibits religious gatherings over this size, so it ticks that box too.
I’m 30% sure that, if a legal challenge is filed, it will be dismissed as moot because by the time a judge hears the case, the emergency will be over and the emergency orders rescinded. Most of the remaining chance is on “The court does not rule on the merits for a specific reason that I don’t predict”, and the courts ruling on the merits of the ban, given that someone challenges it, seem very unlikely.
Frankly, my civic position is that the current situation is one in which temporary government overreach is appropriate, but I’m also experiencing a thing where I want to reject the precedent that the government *saying* that there’s an emergency is sufficient to invoke unconstitutional powers.
I can actually have it both ways: What is sufficient for the emergency unconstitutional powers to be invoked is the *public* acknowledging that there is an emergency. But that terrifies me, because by around week 15 of the lockdown a large segment of the public is going to believe that there is no longer an emergency worth those powers, and the Just Rebellion Against the Tyranny will begin.
My major worry is that around week 15 (if not earlier) empty store shelves will become a more pressing emergency than the virus.