(LifeSiteNews) – Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky called for an immediate end of the COVID-19 emergency last week.
In an op-ed published Thursday by the Washington Examiner, Paul stressed the constitutional issues related to the COVID national emergency and highlighted previous actions taken by the federal government in the name of curtailing COVID-19.
The Constitution is the guarantor of our liberties. So it should come as no surprise that those who crave power to rule over their fellow man always seek to suspend the Constitution by declaring and perpetuating national emergencies. https://t.co/f3QVSK8BGq
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) November 18, 2022
“The Constitution is the guarantor of our liberties,” Paul wrote. “So it should come as no surprise that those who crave power to rule over their fellow man always seek to suspend the Constitution by declaring and perpetuating national emergencies.”
“Have we forgotten what emergency powers in the hands of the government look like,” Paul continued. “They look like lockdowns, where livelihoods and lives are destroyed. They look like a travel mask mandate; like robbing children of a full education; like the closure of places of worship; and like a vaccine mandate for those working for large companies. They look like an eviction moratorium in which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] claims the power to destroy contracts and effectively seize private property.”
In a 60 Minutes interview in September, President Joe Biden declared that the COVID-19 pandemic was “over.” The White House reacted by saying that the Biden administration would not change its COVID policy. The COVID national emergency was extended to January 2023 last month, and the extension was itself extended to April earlier this month.
“Even the president himself acknowledges what is plain to see for anyone willing to recognize what is in front of one’s face: We are learning to live with COVID and the vast majority of the public has moved on,” Paul commented.
“Yet Biden refuses to acknowledge the time for emergency measures has long since ended … If he will not terminate the national emergency himself, it falls to us, the people’s representatives in Congress, to act, and, in the wise words of the [Supreme Court], remind Biden that ‘there is no pandemic exception to the Constitution.’”
Last week, the Senate voted in favor of a resolution introduced by Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas that would end the COVID national emergency. The resolution passed by a 62-36 vote. The White House, reacting to the vote, threatened that Biden would veto the measure. A similar measure was passed by the Senate in March with a 48-47 vote. Biden reacted to the measure by threatening to veto any Congressional resolution in favor of ending the COVID national emergency.
Government policies put in place to fight COVID-19, such as lockdowns and mask mandates, have been found to have either no impact or a negative impact on public health. COVID measures have also been subject to legal challenges over constitutionality questions.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 majority decision that California’s forced closure of in-person religious services during COVID lockdowns was unconstitutional. The Thomas More Society also won two settlements against the state of California over policies that forced church closings.
In January, the Court also ruled against the Biden administration’s jab mandate for businesses and upheld the administration’s mandate for health care workers.