from The Epoch Times:
In what she has called a David versus Goliath battle, New York real estate lawyer Bobbie Anne Cox sued New York Gov. Kathleen Hochul for issuing directives mandating quarantine for people exposed to or infected with highly contagious diseases such as COVID-19. The directives, dubbed “quarantine camp regulations,” have been compared to laws that relocated people of Japanese descent during World War II without due process. Cox won the lawsuit on the grounds that Hochul’s regulation was unconstitutional.
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In a recent interview on Epoch TV’s American Thought Leaders, Cox told host Jan Jekielek that it’s crucial that Americans learn about the Constitution so that they can prevent similar acts by state and federal governments.
“The constitution is not perfect, but it’s brilliant,” Cox said.
Schools should require learning about the U.S. Constitution, “from the little kids all the way up through high school into college.”
“The constitution was written to keep the government in check,” she said. “The constitution wasn’t written to keep the people in check.”
Our founding fathers came to this continent fleeing tyranny, according to Cox.
“They wrote the constitution in such a manner that if it’s followed, there wouldn’t be tyranny on these shores, ever,” she said. “Yet here we are, 250 years later, and we’re fighting tyranny.”
It’s tyrannical for a government to take power that it isn’t entitled to, Cox said. During the pandemic, state and federal governments gave themselves powers the constitution didn’t give them.
State governors are part of the executive branch of government.
“They’re supposed to enforce laws, and their agencies beneath them are supposed to help them enforce laws,” she said. “They’re not supposed to make laws.”
When a governor such as Hochul takes on powers that properly belong to the legislature, “that’s tyranny,” Cox reiterated.
“The attitude is kind of like, ‘Well, we know we can’t do this, but we’re going to do it anyway.’ And then the theory is, ‘Catch me if you can,’” she said.
Understanding Our Rights
Unconstitutional mandates and regulations have been thrust upon the public because American citizens don’t know their rights, according to Cox.
“I think if people understood what their rights are, they would say, ‘Hold on a second, you can’t do that,’” she said. “In the history of mankind, no government has ever taken power from the people, and then just voluntarily given it back.
“The people have to demand it back. The people won’t demand it back unless they know that they have the right to that power. So I think there needs to be an education process in the United States so that people understand, ‘Oh, these are my rights.’”
The Executive Branch Can’t Legislate
At the beginning of the pandemic lockdowns, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was given emergency powers by the New York legislature to implement “directives.” Those emergency powers, according to Cox, essentially gave him legislative powers.
“The legislative branch can’t delegate their lawmaking power to another branch of government, but they did, and for a whole year, Cuomo had this power. … He then passed it on to his commissioner of health,” Cox said.
After Cuomo stepped down in August 2021 and Hochul became interim governor, she continued the regulations despite criticism that she was sidestepping the legislature. When Cox learned about this, she was impelled to sue in order to stop the government overreach.
Quarantine Regulation Based on Rejected Bill
Cox sees this type of control by the governor as tyrannical and “wholly unconstitutional” for many reasons, including the fact that the New York legislature rejected the quarantine rule in a bill years before.
“It’s the story of a tyrannical governor and her department of health, doing something that they want to do, but the people don’t want them to do it,” she said. “And the people’s representatives in the New York state senate and the assembly don’t want them to do it.”
The quarantine camp regulation was based on a bill that was proposed in 2015 by New York state assemblyman Nick Perry (D-Brooklyn) during the Ebola outbreak. The regulation was rejected by the state legislature and withdrawn from consideration.
After Cuomo resigned, through a simple vote, Hochul and her advisers issued the directive that ultimately gave the governor and the New York Department of Health the power to lock up anyone they deemed to be contagious.
“They could have locked you up in your home, or they could have removed you from your home and locked you into a facility of their choosing,” Cox said.
There was no restriction on age, proof of sickness or exposure, or time limit to the quarantine.
“There was nothing in the regulation that would allow you to try to negotiate your way out of this,” she said.
The regulation didn’t follow either the state or U.S. constitutions because it didn’t lay out the rights of the person forced into quarantine.
“In the judge’s decision, he actually said [that] this regulation gives lip service to due process,” Cox said. “‘You mention it, but you don’t actually have any due process built in there.’”
The court’s opinion reads: “Involuntary detention is a severe deprivation of individual liberty, far more egregious than other health safety measures, such as requiring mask wearing at certain venues. Involuntary quarantine may have far-reaching consequences such as loss of income [or employment] and isolation from family.”
