We Have the Right to Assemble and Freedom of Religion - Unlawful Arrest of Preacher

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

Looks like some of our government officials haven't read the Constitution.

---Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was charged with misdemeanor counts of unlawful assembly---

Florida megachurch pastor arrested for holding services despite health order

A Florida pastor was arrested on Monday for operating a Tampa megachurch in violation of a public health order prohibiting large gatherings in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus. &nbs…

thehill.com

Are you a judge?

I cannot remember how many arguments I have had about how National Security trumps the constitution.....the events unfolding before my eyes prove I was right.

The clueless worshippers of the constitution seem to think the constitution fell down to earth from heaven.

Also as I have previously pointed out....numerous Presidents have violated it with impunity.

Irregardless.....the reaility is that the Constitution is only a set of ideas that give us guidance but if there is no one able or willing to enforce it.....just a piece of paper like george bush said....when he was accused of violating it.

The pastor is a complete idiot who has no value for life. This fact is exemplified by his actions. Arrest him? No. Shame him? Yes.

It was good he was arrested and fined.....he should have been sent to jail...he recklessly endangered lives and very possible deaths will occur because of his action.

Freedom of religion doesn't extend to public health emergencies. They should have raided the church during service, and arrested his selfish attendees as well.

Exactly......National Security Trumps the constitution any and every day of the week and year.

Wise up boyos! First things first.....if we have no state aka we let the state be destroyed by some religious like belief that we must always adhere to the constitution because the Lord himself wrote it ....of what value is the constitution....do you reall think that the
Chinese or whoever comes in and takes over will rescue your constitution from the ash-heap of history and hand it back to you englossed in gold and say........sure we will abide by the constitution.

Get real you moralistic morons....try and use some common sense.

Hey man, NOTHING trumps the Constitution. You're in America now, boy.

So what happens when martial law is declared?

 

[OldLady]

And today we find that in Britain the police (not all but too many) have begun police-state rule:

UK police warned against âoverreachâ in use of virus lockdown powers

Exclusive: policing chiefs seek to set out legal powers forces have in coronavirus lockdown

www.theguardian.com

Anybody have reports of similar overreach here in the former country once called The United States?

Of course I do understand if your party won't allow you to respond or if the Gestapo is at your door.....

It's kinda scary seeing them stop church services, stop every incoming car on I 95 at the Florida border, asking where you're from and the address where you're going. Ordering the closure of vacation rentals in some states. Schools are shuttered and millions are out of work thanks to government order. I get people being really upset about it.
Our unquestioned freedom to go where we want, when we want, and do as we damned please is being restricted. That never feels good.

When the Constitution was written, there weren't pandemics, but the Founding Fathers knew all about highly contagious disease; they had all no doubt had their run ins with small pox, dysentery or yellow fever epidemics. They used quarantines then, too. If a person got it, the whole family was quarantined to their house. If there was question of disease on a ship, the whole crew was kept quarantined on the ship in the harbor. School was cancelled if a lot of cases were running through town. The Founding Fathers knew all about it, and if they could see us questioning these orders, I think they would wonder why on earth we were objecting to saving our lives.

Great to see someone post on here with a good knowledge of our history and obviously much common sense as well.

Thanks.

 

[HappyJoy]

I think the preacher should be tarred, feathered and run out of town. What an asshole.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Where, in the Constitution, is there any language that even hints at any authority on the part of any part of government, to use any alleged “emergency” as an excuse to disregard the Constitution as the highest law of the nation?

Maintaining order is The purpose of the law. It is coming as a surprise to some that the government at all levels is empowered to do practically anything to respond to real threats.

That's a non-response to my post.

The Constitution is the highest law in this nation, and it sets hard limits on what government is or is not allowed to do.

Where is there any language in the Constitution that even hints at any authority to disregard it, in response to any alleged threat?

(Hint: There isn't any such language in the Constitution.)

 

[busybee01]

Looks like some of our government officials haven't read the Constitution.

---Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was charged with misdemeanor counts of unlawful assembly---

Florida megachurch pastor arrested for holding services despite health order

A Florida pastor was arrested on Monday for operating a Tampa megachurch in violation of a public health order prohibiting large gatherings in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus. &nbs…

thehill.com

I would suggest you read the Bible. Especially the part where Jesus says to give to Caesar what is Caesar's.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

I would suggest you read the Bible. Especially the part where Jesus says to give to Caesar what is Caesar's.

And what, in this case, belongs to Cæsar?

Freedom of religion? Freedom of assembly? Those belong to the people, not to the government.

 

[cnm]

Anyhow it is sad to see so many on this thread who display a basic lack of good common sense to say the least.

Notice how all/the majority of them are deplorables?

 

[cnm]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Has Congress made a law? This is a state issue, Shirley. You know, states' rights...

 

[MacTheKnife]

I would suggest you read the Bible. Especially the part where Jesus says to give to Caesar what is Caesar's.

And what, in this case, belongs to Cæsar?

Freedom of religion? Freedom of assembly? Those belong to the people, not to the government.

'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.' Who said dat boyo?

Irregardless................................

Copied
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to extraordinary restraints on liberty, from international travel bans to state and local orders that businesses shut down, individuals avoid large assemblies and even stay home, and infected patients remain in quarantine. Depending on the epidemic’s progress, even more-draconian measures may be needed, such as restrictions on interstate and intrastate travel. It’s possible that “social distancing” will last for months rather than weeks.
All this goes against the grain in America, whose people treasure freedom and constitutional rights. But the government has ample constitutional and legal authority to impose such emergency steps.

A Constitutional Guide to Emergency Powers

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to extraordinary restraints on liberty, from international travel bans to state and local orders that businesses shut down, individuals avoid large assemblies and even stay home, and infected patients remain in quarantine. Depending on the epidemic’s progress, even...

www.heritage.org

 

[MacTheKnife]

I would suggest you read the Bible. Especially the part where Jesus says to give to Caesar what is Caesar's.

And what, in this case, belongs to Cæsar?

Freedom of religion? Freedom of assembly? Those belong to the people, not to the government.

You have inadequate knowledge.....see below or above O ignorant one. hehheh

 

[Vandalshandle]

Looks like some of our government officials haven't read the Constitution.

---Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was charged with misdemeanor counts of unlawful assembly---

Florida megachurch pastor arrested for holding services despite health order

A Florida pastor was arrested on Monday for operating a Tampa megachurch in violation of a public health order prohibiting large gatherings in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus. &nbs…

thehill.com

I confess that it might have been a mistake to interfere with the preacher's prayer meetings. I believe that it is folly to interfere with the Darwin principle.

 

[MacTheKnife]

I think the preacher should be tarred, feathered and run out of town. What an asshole.

Absolutely.....along with all the ignorant ones on this board who think they have the freedom to spread the virus wherever they go or want to go.....so ridiculous.

 

[MacTheKnife]

Where, in the Constitution, is there any language that even hints at any authority on the part of any part of government, to use any alleged “emergency” as an excuse to disregard the Constitution as the highest law of the nation?

Maintaining order is The purpose of the law. It is coming as a surprise to some that the government at all levels is empowered to do practically anything to respond to real threats.

That's a non-response to my post.

The Constitution is the highest law in this nation, and it sets hard limits on what government is or is not allowed to do.

Where is there any language in the Constitution that even hints at any authority to disregard it, in response to any alleged threat?

(Hint: There isn't any such language in the Constitution.)

You can't see the forrest for the trees chump.

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

This article was written for January/February 2019, so more than a year ago however reading it in retrospect I find it eery that it almos seems to foretell the situation we now find ourselves in.

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, but none of our rights are absolute, and most definitely they end where they begin to encroach upon and negatively impact the rights of another or in particular many others.

3. SANCTIONING AMERICANS

Next to war powers, economic powers might sound benign, but they are among the president’s most potent legal weapons. All but two of the emergency declarations in effect today were issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or ieepa. Passed in 1977, the law allows the president to declare a national emergency “to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat”—to national security, foreign policy, or the economy—that “has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States.” The president can then order a range of economic actions to address the threat, including freezing assets and blocking financial transactions in which any foreign nation or foreign national has an interest.

In the late 1970s and ’80s, presidents used the law primarily to impose sanctions against other nations, including Iran, Nicaragua, South Africa, Libya, and Panama. Then, in 1983, when Congress failed to renew a law authorizing the Commerce Department to control certain exports, President Ronald Reagan declared a national emergency in order to assume that control under ieepa. Subsequent presidents followed his example, transferring export control from Congress to the White House. President Bill Clinton expanded ieepa’s usage by targeting not just foreign governments but foreign political parties, terrorist organizations, and suspected narcotics traffickers.

President George W. Bush took matters a giant step further after 9/11. His Executive Order 13224 prohibited transactions not just with any suspected foreign terrorists, but with any foreigner or any U.S. citizen suspected of providing them with support. Once a person is “designated” under the order, no American can legally give him a job, rent him an apartment, provide him with medical services, or even sell him a loaf of bread unless the government grants a license to allow the transaction. The patriot Act gave the order more muscle, allowing the government to trigger these consequences merely by opening an investigation into whether a person or group should be designated.

The Alarming Scope of the President's Emergency Powers

 

[HappyJoy]

I think the preacher should be tarred, feathered and run out of town. What an asshole.

Absolutely.....along with all the ignorant ones on this board who think they have the freedom to spread the virus wherever they go or want to go.....so ridiculous.

Yep, let's throw them all into a football field, let them fend for themselves and whoever survives and develops an immunity can work in the hospitals cleaning toilets.

 

[WEATHER53]

I’m just not all fired up about right to assemble right now

 

[MacTheKnife]

I’m just not all fired up about right to assemble right now

hehheh Good one.

 

[MacTheKnife]

Emergency powers[edit]
See also: National Emergencies Act and International Emergency Economic Powers Act
The Constitution does not expressly grant the president additional powers in times of national emergency. However, many scholars think that the Framers implied these powers because the structural design of the Executive Branch enables it to act faster than the Legislative Branch. Because the Constitution remains silent on the issue, the courts cannot grant the Executive Branch these powers when it tries to wield them. The courts will only recognize a right of the Executive Branch to use emergency powers if Congress has granted such powers to the president.[46]

Emergency presidential power is not a new idea. However, the way in which it is used in the twenty-first century, presents new challenges.[47]

A claim of emergency powers was at the center of President Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus without Congressional approval in 1861. Lincoln claimed that the rebellion created an emergency that permitted him the extraordinary power of unilaterally suspending the writ. With Chief Justice Roger Taney sitting as judge, the Federal District Court of Maryland struck down the suspension in Ex parte Merryman, although Lincoln ignored the order.[48]

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt similarly invoked emergency powers when he issued an order directing that all Japanese Americans residing on the West Coast be placed into internment camps during World War II. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld this order in Korematsu v. United States.[49]

Harry Truman declared the use of emergency powers when he nationalized private steel mills that failed to produce steel because of a labor strike in 1952.[50] With the Korean War ongoing, Truman asserted that he could not wage war successfully if the economy failed to provide him with the material resources necessary to keep the troops well-equipped.[51] The U.S. Supreme Court, however, refused to accept that argument in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, voting 6-3 that neither commander-in-chief powers nor any claimed emergency powers gave the president the authority to unilaterally seize private property without Congressional legislation.[52]

Powers of the president of the United States - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[SweetSue92]

Looks like some of our government officials haven't read the Constitution.

---Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was charged with misdemeanor counts of unlawful assembly---

Florida megachurch pastor arrested for holding services despite health order

A Florida pastor was arrested on Monday for operating a Tampa megachurch in violation of a public health order prohibiting large gatherings in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus. &nbs…

thehill.com

It's unconstitutional and won't take many trips up the court to be proven so

 

[SweetSue92]

The pastor is a complete idiot who has no value for life. This fact is exemplified by his actions. Arrest him? No. Shame him? Yes.

Yes, we know. The "Liberals" favorite Puritanical tactic: SHAME