Enlarge / Attorney General William Barr speaks as US President Donald Trump listens during a Coronavirus Task Force news conference on Monday, March 23, 2020. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)
The Trump administration is threatening to sue states and municipalities whose pandemic orders infringe on people’s rights or cause “undue interference with the national economy.”
“I am directing each of our United States Attorneys to also be on the lookout for state and local directives that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens,” US Attorney General William Barr wrote yesterday in a memo to all 94 US attorneys’ offices. The Barr memo said that “even in times of emergency, when reasonable and temporary restrictions are placed on rights, the First Amendment and federal statutory law prohibit discrimination against religious institutions and religious believers.” The memo is available at The Washington Post website.
Barr’s memo is not just aimed at protecting members of religious groups. He continued:
Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Trump admin threatens to sue states that don’t lift pandemic orders