Judge Napolitano: Michigan Gov. Whitmer’s lockdown actions are like a fascist ‘police state’

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Fox News senior judicial analyst and former judge Andrew Napolitano ripped Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Thursday, characterizing her unilateral attempt to extend her coronavirus lockdown order as that of a “police state” and “fascism.”

Host Tucker Carlson kicked off the segment discussing the case of Karl Manke, a 77-year-old barber who reopened his business in violation of Whitmer’s lockdown order, flanked by armed militia members who pledged to protect him and his business if police tried to shut him down.

He noted that scores of Michigan residents protested her recent extension of the lockdown order because they want to reopen their businesses and get back to work.

In Manke’s case, a state court ruled that he could, indeed, reopen his business in spite of Whitmer’s orders. But then state officials came and revoked his operating license, shutting him down indefinitely, even after the lockdown is ended.


(Source: Fox News)

“The definition of a free state is one where the laws are written to uphold personal liberties,” Napolitano said. “The definition of a police state is one where the laws are written, legitimately or not, to uphold what the government wants. We are not gradually, all of a sudden, in a period of six weeks, going from a free state, which is happening in all 50 states, to a police state.”

“And the example you just cited in Michigan is violative, not just of Michigan law and the Michigan Constitution, but the United States Constitution as well,” Napolitano continued. “She can’t take his livelihood away from him because he spoke out against [her]. That’s what the fascists did that we fought against in World War II.”

He went on to discuss a decision this week by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which sided with the GOP-controlled state legislature over Democratic Gov. Tony Evers after he attempted to extend his previous shutdown order. The court declared the extension “unlawful, invalid, and unenforceable.”

“People should say something about it,” Napolitano said of mostly Democrat-led attempts to keep Americans locked down as the virus pandemic wanes.

“Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin did when it said to the governor’s people, ‘you do not have the authority for the lockdown, only the legislature does.’ And the legislature has told us they don’t want it, and you cannot write your own laws and enforce the laws you have just written,” the former judge said. “That violates the Wisconsin constitution and, by the way, the American constitution, and therefore, the lockdown is ended.”

Napolitano then ripped the notion that U.S. citizens ought to be forced to show ID in order to buy liquor or visit a restaurant, and he blasted Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee for ordering his state health officials to collect personal information on restaurant customers.

“He’s beginning to open up restaurants, but his health inspectors will tell the owners of those restaurants, ‘We need the name and address of everybody that’s in here, and if you don’t give it to us, we’ll take away your liquor license, or we’ll take away your license to own the restaurant,'” Napolitano told Carlson.

“You have no obligation to give that to them whatsoever, you have no obligation to give them any credit information or any personal information about you, and the government has no right to collect that,” he continued.

Americans are clearly getting fed up with extended lockdowns, especially in parts of states where coronavirus outbreaks are minimal or manageable.

But just as clearly, it appears as though mostly Democrat governors and mayors want the lockdowns to continue for some reason, despite the fact that businesses in their states and cities are failing at alarming rates and millions of their fellow citizens are out of work.

In a video rant that went viral Thursday, Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy railed against mayors and governors for moving the goalposts on reopening their cities and states.

“What the f*** is going on?” Portnoy asked in opening the video. “When did this become, ‘flatten the curve’, ‘flatten the curve’, ‘flatten the curve’, to we have to find a cure or everyone is gonna die?

“And the L.A. mayor [Eric Garcetti] we’re not opening the city until we find a cure? What? Find a cure? Who says we’re gonna find a cure? We haven’t had a cure to cancer, it took AIDS 20 years or whatever, do we even have a cure? So, the economy is just shut down?” Portnoy added.

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Jon Dougherty

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