Holy 1984, Batman. New York Attorney General Letitia James is appealing a ruling that stopped New York state to lock people up in internet camps.
Worse, the state does not allow someone pegged for internment the right to a trial and does not force the state to prove that the person being sent to an internment camp to prove that person has COVID or is a carrier of the virus.
The regulation, Section 2.13 “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures,” was placed into law on April 22, 2022. Under that law, the state commissioner of health would direct authorities to take anyone into custody without cause or proof.
The commissioner also had the right to determine how long the subjects would be placed in these concentration Internment camps. Would you have faith in this program as it is run by Democrats? I can see political enemies being sent to these camps for long periods of time without a trial or proof they are a public health risk.
What about massive incarceration of the unvaccinated? That would almost be given in a state that demanded police and medical professionals were ordered to get the vaccination or be fired. I can see it now. Razor wire and machine gun nests. They would be given the DC-style treatment.
State Senator George Borrello (R), Assemblyman Mike Lawler (R), and Assemblyman Chris Tague (R) sued Hochul over the new regulation.
Borrello said:
“From the start of the pandemic I was deeply concerned that the expansive ‘emergency’ powers that were given to the Executive Branch would establish a permanent precedent. Unfortunately, that is precisely what we are seeing here in New York State.”
“It’s an unconstitutional overreach that violates the required separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government. It must be challenged.”
Tague said:
“This policy’s aim to forcibly isolate law-abiding citizens is reminiscent of actions taken by some of the ugliest tyrannical regimes history has ever known. It has no place standing as law here in New York, let alone anywhere in the United States.”
New York Judge Ronald Ploetz ruled against the state:
“Involuntary detention or hospitalization triggers Constitutional protections, including the right to counsel as well as proof of the need for detention by clear and convincing evidence,” wrote Ploetz. “No such due process protections are afforded by Rule 2.13. The Commissioner has unfettered discretion to issue a quarantine or isolation for anyone, even if there is no evidence that the person is infected or a carrier of the disease. Further, the Commissioner sets the terms, duration, and location of the detention, not an independent magistrate.”
“Involuntary detention is a severe deprivation of individual liberty, far more egregious than other health, safety measures, such as requiring a mask wearing at certain venues.”
Rep. Lawler commented:
“This case has been on solid ground from the start and Judge Ploetz’s ruling only confirmed that. The notion that a state agency could unilaterally adopt a policy that mandates authoritarian-style isolation and quarantine procedures would have been unimaginable a few short years ago. However, the extreme government control and overreach that was disturbingly normalized during the pandemic has given rise to actions like this one. It has to stop and that is why we won’t give up.”
Assemblyman Tague stated:
“This unconstitutional power-grab must be stopped in its tracks. If Rule 2.13 is allowed to stand, I guarantee that we will see more frightening intrusions on our civil liberties in the years ahead.”
“I am calling on the governor and the attorney general to accept the court’s ruling and stop this waste of taxpayer resources on this futile fight.”
