We have become a nation in a permanent state of emergency.

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]



** For Immediate Release: January 5, 2024
------------------------------------------------------------


** Rutherford Institute Warns Against Allowing the Government to Override the Constitution in the Name of Crisis Management
------------------------------------------------------------

DOVER, Del. — The Rutherford Institute is sounding a strident warning over allowing the government unbridled authority to override the Constitution in the name of so-called “crisis management,” ([link removed]) pointing out that such unrestricted emergency powers could very quickly become a slippery slope to a total lockdown mindset.

The Rutherford Institute has been a vocal critic of the government’s efforts to weaponize one national crisis after another in order to expand its powers and justify all manner of government tyranny in the so-called name of national security. This latest legal diatribe, in an amicus brief ([link removed]) filed with the Delaware Supreme Court in a consolidated proceeding titled In re Covid-Related Restrictions on Religious Services, challenges the broad application of qualified immunity to shield government officials from accountability for the unconstitutional use of COVID-19 emergency powers to restrict religious gatherings and practices.

“We have become a nation in a permanent state of emergency,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People ([link removed]) . “However, what we must guard against, more than ever before, is the tendency to become so acclimated to these emergency decrees—lockdowns, authoritarian dictates, and police state tactics justified as necessary for national security—that we allow the government to keep having its way in all things, without any civic resistance or objections being raised.”
MAKE THE GOVERNMENT PLAY BY THE RULES OF THE CONSTITUTION: SUPPORT THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM ([link removed])

In March 2020, Delaware Gov. John Carney declared a state of emergency relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and soon after issued additional emergency orders limiting the size of gatherings within the state. By April 1, the Governor had ordered that no indoor gatherings of more than 10 persons could be held. The ban on gatherings was specifically applicable to churches, restricted how baptism and communion could be administered while not restricting physical contact in rituals of other religions, and “strongly encouraged” houses of worship to transition to remote services. However, the ban contained numerous exceptions, allowing more than 230 big-box shopping stores, liquor stores, and guns shops to be open without having to abide by a 10-person restriction. Rev. Bullock, the pastor of Canaan Baptist Church, who was holding on-line services for his 2500-member congregation, sought to challenge what he saw as unequal and unfair treatment of churches under the governor’s emergency restrictions,
especially when compared to the less strident restrictions imposed on secular stores.

After Rutherford Institute attorneys filed a First Amendment lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging the governor’s discriminatory emergency restrictions for churches, Delaware officials eventually rescinded ([link removed]) their attempts to dictate to churches about how best to minister to their congregants during a pandemic. A year after Institute attorneys reached a settlement ([link removed]) with the State of Delaware, attorneys affiliated with The Rutherford Institute filed a separate lawsuit
([link removed]) to prevent the governor from using his emergency powers again to restrict religious gatherings and shut down houses of worship and affiliated ministries in the future. The lower court dismissed the claims, finding that the governor was covered by qualified immunity and the State Tort Claims Act, which The Rutherford Institute disputes in its amicus brief ([link removed]) to the Delaware Supreme Court.

Scott D. Cousins of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP assisted The Rutherford Institute in presenting the arguments in the amicus brief ([link removed]) in In re Covid-Related Restrictions on Religious Services.

The Rutherford Institute ([link removed]) , a nonprofit civil liberties organization, provides legal assistance at no charge to individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and educates the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting their freedoms.

Source: [link removed]
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Frutherford%2Ftri-challenges-governmental-use-of-crises-to-abuse-power Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Frutherford%2Ftri-challenges-governmental-use-of-crises-to-abuse-power)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION ([link removed])

To donate via PayPal, please click below:
[link removed]

============================================================
** Follow us on Facebook ([link removed])
** Follow us on Facebook ([link removed])
** Follow us on Twitter ([link removed])
** Follow us on Twitter ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
CONTACT INFORMATION
Nisha Whitehead
(434) 978-3888 ext. 604
** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

THE RUTHERFORD INSTITUTE
Post Office Box 7482
Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Phone: (434) 978-3888
** www.rutherford.org ([link removed])

Copyright © 2024 The Rutherford Institute, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because of your interest in the work of The Rutherford Institute. Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization that provides free legal services to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated. To discontinue your membership electronically, or if you feel you are receiving this message in error, please follow the link below.

Under the regulations of the United States Internal Revenue Service, The Rutherford Institute is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit organization. Donations to support The Rutherford Institute’s legal and educational work help to safeguard the constitutional rights of all Americans. Donations are tax-deductible. In compliance with general industry standards of a nonprofit organization, the Institute is audited annually by an independent accounting firm.

** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])

** update subscription preferences ([link removed])