Legality of shelter-in-place orders is questionable

Legality of shelter-in-place orders are questionable

By Lynda Carson - March 21, 2020

Oakland - As Oakland and other local cities are under lock-down as a result of the questionable shelter-in-place orders, one can only wonder if these orders are actually legal, and under what pretenses can they be enforceable? Especially if people fail to remain less than six feet apart (social distancing) from one another, when told that it is now illegal to do so.

For starters, a March 19, 2020, Order Of The Public Health Officer, signed by Sonia Y. Angell, MD, MPH, that orders all individuals living in the State of California to stay home or at their place of residence except as needed to maintain the continuity of operations of the federal critical infrastructure sectors, as outlined at https://cisa.gov/critical-infrastructure-sectors , appears to be lacking in clarity in regards to what charges one may be arrested for if they are allegedly in violation of the shelter-in-place orders.

The order does not clearly state under what charges that people would be arrested and prosecuted for if they allegedly violate the terms of the stay-at-home orders.

Would an arrested person be cited for disturbing the peace? Or for malicious mischief? Or for failure to obey an unlawful state order that clearly lacks definition or penalties?

Or perhaps you may be arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time while standing too close (under 6 feet or holding hands) with a friend, family members, or loved ones while out taking a walk for some fresh air in total defiance of the so-called shelter-in-place orders? Can people be arrested at home or in a car for violating the orders to remain six feet apart from another, especially while having sex?

Does this really mean that a carload of people will face arrest and prosecution because they are less than 6 feet apart from one another in a volkswagon?

Are the myrmidons of California really to be arrested for being contumacious during a time of questionable shelter-in-place orders that defy common sense, logic, legalities, and the constitution?

Are California’s Stay-At-Home Orders Really A Total Fu_king Legal Mess?

According to an opinion piece by Noah Feldman, reported on by Bloomberg, “California Governor Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order may well be necessary as a matter of public health in the face of the new coronavirus — I will leave that to epidemiologists to determine. But viewed as a legal declaration, it’s a total mess.

Most worrisome, the order fails to create an exception to the stay-at-home requirement for the free press to function — an exemption that is certainly mandated by the First Amendment. Instead, the order creates exceptions by referring to a federal list of 16 “critical infrastructure sectors” — a list that itself fails to say that a free press is a constitutionally specified form of critical infrastructure, without which we cannot hope to cope with a pandemic like Covid-19.

The order is also drafted so badly that it creates contradictions with the state’s own website explaining it; with the governor’s own speech rolling it out; and with common sense.

As written, the order does not say clearly that Californians can leave their homes to buy food or medicine or other necessities. It doesn’t say whether they can go out to help family members or friends who are themselves vulnerable or otherwise in need. It is silent on going out for exercise. Although context suggests all these may be permitted, the formal legal implication of the text would be that all are prohibited.

The governor’s executive order works like this: Technically, it enforces a separate order of the state public health officer. In that document, the public health officer says that he “order[s] all individuals living in the State of California to stay home or at their place of residence except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of the federal critical infrastructure sectors” as specified in the federal list.

The federal list, in turn, was not written with a pandemic specifically in mind. It’s a list produced by the Department of Homeland Security’s CISA, a cyber-infrastructure agency. The purpose of the list is to identify sectors that should be given special governmental protection against external threats because they are “so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety.


Note that as drafted, the California executive order would not seem to allow people to go out of their houses unless they work in one of the specified sectors. Yet it seems highly unlikely that the order is intended to block people from shopping for food and drugs and other basic necessities — because no system is in place to deliver those things to all Californians. An associated California state website talks about going to the grocery store.” End Of Partial Quote:

In a March 18, 2020, very disturbing U.S. Chamber letter to the impeached President Donald J. Trump, they are pushing for more classifications in addition to the list of “16 critical infrastructure sectors,” including the following list below that does not provide any guidelines about our voting rights, or procedures that would allow the public to be able to vote the impeached President Donald J. Trump out-of-office in the near future for being incompetent about the lack of medical supplies and testing kits for the Covid-19 pandemic that has spread across our nation.

Apparently, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that fully supports the dumb ass residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C., does not believe that the needs of the public and their right to vote, is worthy of their attention as the voters of Ohio have recently been told that the elections in their state were canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic plaguing their state. See list below…

• Healthcare operations and support services;

• Grocery stores, convenience stores, and other establishments engaged in the retail sale or provision of food, pet supply, and any other household consumer products (such as cleaning and personal care products). This includes stores that sell groceries and also sell other non-grocery products, and products necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences;

• Local, regional, and national delivery services, including but not limited to businesses that ship or deliver groceries, food, goods or services directly to residences and mailing and shipping services;

• Facilities supporting interstate delivery of goods, including truck and rest stops;

• Cleaning services necessary to provide and maintain disinfection;

• Food cultivation, including farming, livestock, and fishing;

• Manufacturing of goods necessary for the continue and immediate operation of other essential infrastructure and businesses;

• Businesses that provide food, shelter, and social services, and other necessities of life for economically disadvantaged or otherwise needy individuals;

• Newspapers, television, radio, and other media services;

• Gas stations and auto-supply, auto-repair, and related facilities;

• Banks and their branches, stock exchanges, and related financial institutions;

• Hardware stores;

• Plumbers, electricians, exterminators, and other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences;

• Educational institutions—including public and private K-12 schools, colleges, and universities—for purposes of facilitating distance learning or performing essential functions, if operating under rules for social distancing;

• Laundromats, dry cleaners, and laundry service providers;

• Restaurants and other facilities that prepare and serve food, if operating under rules for social distancing;

• Schools and other entities that provide free food services to students or members of the public, if operating under rules for social distancing;

• Businesses that supply other essential businesses and people working from home with the support or supplies necessary to operate;

• Airlines, taxis, and other private transportation providers providing transportation services necessary for essential activities and other purposes;

• Home-based care for seniors, adults, or children;

• Residential facilities and shelters for seniors, adults, and children;

• Professional services, such as legal or accounting services, when necessary to assist in compliance with legally mandated activities;

• Childcare facilities providing services that enable exempted employees to work as permitted, if operating under rules for social distancing.

Meanwhile, we are edging ever closer to Martial Law as the National Guard is reportedly being activated by governors in at least 27 states, including California.

This may result in an eventual nationwide quarantine enforced by the National Guard if the impeached President Donald J.Trump declares a nationwide quarantine in fear of a restless population that defies the questionable shelter-in-place orders.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

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