It’s taken seven weeks to hear public discourse from our most important defenders in favor of liberty and free markets. But district attorneys in Tennessee have finally said, “Enough is enough.”
By David Tulis / NoogaRadio 92.7 FM
Why has it taken this long? Are there not others in public office willing to defend us citizens from executive abuse?
Where are our public defenders? In Hamilton County, district attorney Neal Pinkston has said nothing about the abuses evident in the EOs of Mayor Andy Berke and Gov. Bill Lee.
We have heard nothing from members of the local bar, either, attorneys who supposedly have studied law and who care about the rights of the people, the rule of law and the blessings of equity. (One exception: Joe Manuel, who gave me an interview.)
What about city council? What about Hamilton County commission? I am not aware of any vocal member of these bodies who condemns the ruin of local economy and the oppression of free markets in the Chattanooga area by what appear to be lawless acts of men apart from legal authority.
Where are lawyers — and where is the grand jury? My efforts to alarm either of the two grand juries in Hamilton County have borne no fruit, with Hugh Moore, foreman of the concurrent grand jury, telling me I’ll get an answer eventually regarding my demand to be heard on police arrest abuse practices that had threatened most loudly as the CV-19 panic began.
Promoting ‘law day’
On Saturday we read the high-toned words about “Law Day” by U.S. district court judge Curtis Collier. I don’t propose that judges make comments against executive government unless it is in an order or ruling from the bench. Judges don’t act or speak until their jurisdiction is evoked by a complaint and a contest before the bench between two sides.
The judiciary, in a biblical sense and with warrant from the Hebrew Republic, is a passive body — the public policy in Christianity holds that the magistrate, ruler or state has no authority in society unless a wrong is committed and redress is sought (either internally, via courts, or externally, via warfare). The Word truly proposed a libertarian open society and a free market economy, highly decentralized, highly horizontal and nonvertical.
Still, in light of the long and deep silence regarding unprecedented violation of our constitutional rights, we hear Judge Collier burble upon the virtues of American law, and we wonder if it is one more slab of government propaganda and hypocrisy.
“Law Day provides an opportunity to understand how law and the legal process protect our liberty, strive to achieve justice, and contribute to the freedoms that all Americans share,” he says.
“We pride ourselves on proclaiming our nation as one of laws and not of men. We subscribe to the proposition that the rule of law must be supreme. President Eisenhower and the ABA were speaking to these concepts in promoting a special day to celebrate the legal process and a government under law. An essential component of having a government under law and adhering to the rule of law is our court system, both federal and state. ***
“During this emergency, some governors and mayors have issued orders that, on a temporary basis, restrict personal liberty and freedom. Some citizens have challenged these orders and filed cases in the federal courts. Cases involving the right for churches and other religious institutions to remain open, the right to abortion, and the right to purchase firearms have all come before our courts and been addressed. The courts are still resolving disputes.”
Source: “Law Day 2020, The Courts Adapt To The Crisis,” Chattanoogan.com, Saturday, May 2, 2020. https://www.chattanoogan.com/2020/5/2/408101/Law-Day-2020-The-Courts-Adapt-To-The.aspx
