Covidians & Covidology by Dr Yasser Negm

One lesson might be this: Fear and the desire for safety are powerful forces. 'Doubtless, many lessons can be learned from this chapter in our history, and hopefully serious efforts will be made to study it. Gorsuch's statement shouldn't be regarded as a hot take about the worst civil liberties violations in American history, but a thoughtful review of how governments failed in this instance-so that they might do a better job in the future. All were, like COVID-19 emergency powers, the result of legal exercises of state power that violated basic civil rights.īut what the country experienced over the past few years does not have to top that list to be worthy of serious disdain. There are unfortunately more than a few other contenders for that ignominious crown: slavery, Jim Crow, the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. Executive officials across the country issued emergency decrees on a breathtaking scale,' Gorsuch wrote before rattling off a list that included stay-at-home orders, school closures, attendance limits on churches, a federal ban on evictions, and the Biden administration's attempt (blocked by the Supreme Court) to impose a national vaccine mandate via a federal workplace safety regulator.Īs some Gorsuch critics have been quick to point out on Twitter, it might be a bit of an exaggeration to call this the 'greatest' attack on civil liberties in American history.

'Since March 2020, we may have experienced the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country. Title 42 had been invoked by former President Donald Trump as the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, and it was repeatedly extended by both Trump and President Joe Biden before finally being brought to an end last week.īut Title 42 was just one in a litany of COVID-related emergency powers that drew Gorsuch's ire. Mayorkas, one of several cases dealing with the Title 42 orders that allowed federal immigration authorities to expel migrants seeking asylum in the United States. Gorsuch's sweeping and powerful statement was attached to the Supreme Court's recent ruling in Arizona v. 'Courts bound to protect our liberties addressed a few-but hardly all-of the intrusions upon them.'

'While executive officials issued new emergency decrees at a furious pace, state legislatures and Congress-the bodies normally responsible for adopting our laws-too often fell silent,' Gorsuch wrote. Justice Neil Gorsuch says all three branches of government share some of the blame for what he calls the 'breathtaking scale' of emergency powers wielded by public officials during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Covidians & Covidology by Dr Yasser Negm