Posted on by Californiacontrarian

“You Can’t Do This . . . “


On 1/9/21 one of the headlines in our local newspaper read “Action Filed in NYE Collapse.” The article goes on to say that the City Attorney filed a civil action against both the owner of the warehouse and the organizer of a New Year’s Eve party where a balcony collapsed under the weight of dancing attendees. 

I find this civil action interesting because it actually involves two separate issues. The first involves the safety of the building and the violation of some building codes. To me the owners of the building should be liable for a poorly constructed mezzanine balcony and its collapse as well as the injuries that occurred as a consequence. No problem here.

However the second part of this civil action involves a more basic constitutional concept, as it claims that the NYE party “violated the county and state orders preventing large gatherings.” The City Attorney said that the defendants exposed countless people to Covid by hosting what could be a super-spreader event. 

Now let’s be clear. 

The basic principle here involves whether or not the government has the constitutional authority to stop group gatherings. This same principle is involved in the government’s authority to prevent an entire menagerie of different things, like restaurant dining, either indoor or outdoor, attending church services, going to a gym, getting a haircut, etc. The latest is a dictum that limits travel to less than 120 miles from one’s home . . . unless that travel is “essential.” (121 miles is bad, but 119 miles is okay?)

Although their intent may be good, iis it legal for “those that know best” to tell everybody what they can and cannot do.? Their dictums are not laws.

The party goers knew full well that they were possibly exposing themselves to Covid when they paid their entry fee. Similarly restaurant attendees, gym attendees, church attendees all know that there is a risk involved if they go to a restaurant, a gym, a barber shop, a synagogue or a church, etc. They basically accept that risk if they do these things.

Certainly the Covid pandemic is bad. People are getting sick and people are dying, but does a pandemic (or anything else for that matter) allow the government to suspend certain constitutional freedoms? If it’s Covid this year, might it be the flu next year, or something else the following year? As is alluded to in my book, The Keneally Chronicles, should the Supreme Court have been involved in this issue from the beginning ? Is the suspension of basic freedoms for any reason by “those who know best” okay? Personally I think not, but where is SCOTUS?

The Supreme Court has been absent in the entire election fiasco. For how much longer will SCOTUS be AWOL in this other basic issue?

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