17 May 2020

Constitutional Protections?

23 Iyyar 5780
Day 38 of the Omer

Last week, I received the following comment:

"I feel like in America we have a chance to fight the mandated vaccines that they will want to push onto us, because we have the constitution."
Apparently, this "Unknown" person does not know that rights under the US Constitution could be suspended during a declared State of Emergency.
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to perform actions or impose policies that it would normally not be permitted to undertake. A government can declare such a state during a natural disaster, civil unrest, armed conflict, medical pandemic or epidemic or other biosecurity risk. Such declarations alert citizens to change their normal behavior and orders government agencies to implement emergency plans.

...States of emergency can also be used as a rationale or pretext for suspending rights and freedoms guaranteed under a country's constitution or basic law, sometimes through martial law or revoking habeas corpus. The procedure for and legality of doing so vary by country.  (Source 
From Whitehouse.gov...

Trump's emergency powers worry some senators, legal experts

WASHINGTON (AP) — The day he declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, President Donald Trump made a cryptic offhand remark.

“I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about," he said at the White House.

Trump wasn’t just crowing. Dozens of statutory authorities become available to any president when national emergencies are declared. They are rarely used, but Trump last month stunned legal experts and others when he claimed — mistakenly — that he has “total” authority over governors in easing COVID-19 guidelines.

That prompted 10 senators to look into how sweeping Trump believes his emergency powers are.

They have asked to see this administration's Presidential Emergency Action Documents, or PEADs. The little-known, classified documents are essentially planning papers.

The documents don’t give a president authority beyond what's in the Constitution. But they outline what powers a president believes that the Constitution gives him to deal with national emergencies. The senators think the documents would provide them a window into how this White House interprets presidential emergency powers.
Our "Unknown" commenter  may have faith that American civil liberties are safe in President Trump's hands, but who is to say who will be the president when the vaccine is ready for distribution?
US begins ‘warp speed’ vaccine push as studies ramp up

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump vowed to use “every plane, truck and soldier” to distribute COVID-19 vaccines he hopes will be ready by year’s end — even as the country’s top scientists gear up for a master experiment to rapidly tell if any really work.

Trump on Friday declared the vaccine program he calls “Operation Warp Speed” will be “unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project.”

U.S. Likely to Get Sanofi Vaccine First If It Succeeds

Americans will likely get Sanofi’s Covid-19 vaccine before the rest of the world if the French pharmaceutical giant can successfully deliver one.

Trump Mobilizes Military To Deliver COVID Vaccine As HHS/DoD Unveil Massive Contract For "Injection Devices"

President Trump is reportedly mobilizing the U.S. military to distribute a novel coronavirus vaccine when one becomes available and will focus first on older Americans.

...According to [a] press release, a 138 million dollar contract has been awarded to ApiJect Systems America for two projects known as “Project Jumpstart” and “RAPID USA”. Apparently the goal of these projects is to have vast numbers of “injection devices” ready to go once a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.

...on Tuesday Dr. Anthony Fauci openly admitted to a U.S. Senate committee that there is no guarantee that a vaccine “is actually going to be effective”…

...In addition, because there are multiple strains of COVID-19 already running around out there, one vaccine may not be able to cover them all. So this could create a need for “multiple vaccines”, and this is something that NIH Director Francis Collins has openly acknowledged…
We can't put all our faith in any person or institution.  Only HKB"H is worthy of our complete trust.  Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.  And PRAY!

5 comments:

  1. Agreed! Any Potus can nationalize any state Nat guard and a declared pandemic overrides individual constitutional rights. Long precedent in American law. Therefore,
    Prayer yes!indeed but given our many distractions are we at yet at the point of, the moment of,ויזעקו בני ישראל(singular), with one voice. Story I heard from a baal-tshuvah:
    During the YomKippur war a half-track with its motley crew of a half-dozen soldiers found itself stranded alone in the Sinai. Hot,tired and somewhat bored out of the blue a lone aircraft appeared off in the distance. It was an Egyptian Mig. Panicked the crew cried out ABA,IMA,הצילו!SAVE US!Just as suddenly an Israeli Skyhawk appeared on the Mig's tail and shot it out of the heavens.
    Apparently we will collectively arrive to such a moment.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Devorah, please write a post about aliya. It's not too late. And maybe it will push just one Jew into action, hopefully many more.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vMoeo1ZdUk
    posted today, at about 9 min Rav Nagar says that Rav Kanievsky says that if the skies are open Jews MUST come to Israel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What can I say that hasn't been said before? This is the best I have to offer: ALIYAH It is permanently pinned ot the right sidebar.

      Delete
  3. The space missions have not been curtailed as the world is told to go into lockdown. These dubious space missions waste gas, pollute the atmosphere and destroy the ozone.

    ReplyDelete