The Mayor of Sumner County, Anthony Holt, has issued an arbitrary executive order (mandate) that all citizens must wear masks in public with numerous exclusions. This mandate was ordered by mention of TCA 58-2-120 as an enforcement measure (making it a Class A Misdemeanor for anyone charged) of this unconstitutional order, but allows many exceptions which are contradictory and obvious ambiguous exceptions that allow room for government abuse.
By Justin Olsen
The executive order itself is an egregious overreach of government, violating the fundamental principles of the United States Constitution, Tennessee Constitution, and Title 18 Section 242 USC. If these unconstitutional actions are allowed to continue, it will cause irreparable damage to the plaintiff and citizens of this county whose rights are already being violated.
1. First, executive orders are not laws. By allowing this precedence to take place in our society, we are indeed headed toward a dictatorship state by state, allowing locally elected officials to arbitrarily violate the rights of the citizens in the name of “public health” when there is admittedly no science to prove that masks work to slow/stop the spread of a virus. Even if there was, the actions taken were driven by fear and media
propaganda, and not appropriately gauged with consideration of our basic constitutional liberties. This is an egregious overreach of local government.
2. The Sumner County Mayor does not have the constitutional authority to dictate emergency health procedures to the citizens of his county pursuant to Article II of the Tennessee Constitution because the Governor’s Executive Order No. 54 is unconstitutional on its face. The main role of the Executive Mayor is financial management of the county budget.
He is not a health expert and powers are not granted to him by the Tennessee Constitution nor the United States Constitution to exercise such authority. Therefore, we hereby demand a restraining order be issued against Anthony Holt, Mayor of Sumner County, from attempting to enact such unconstitutional and illegal mandates against the citizens of Sumner County effective immediately.
3. We as citizens have rights, and those rights extend far beyond the powers of local governments. The Supreme Court has litigated issues like this many times and ruled in favor of plaintiffs. Some of those fundamental rights include freedom of religion, privacy, and the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness which are unalienable rights mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.
Forced face coverings have already been litigated by the ACLU, more specifically regarding the Islamic religion where government and businesses alike for quite some time were prohibiting practicing Muslims from exercising their religious freedoms of wearing face coverings in government buildings and places of business. The Supreme Court has held that such “mandates/rules” are indeed unconstitutional — thus on the flip side of this coin, those of the Christian faith feel strongly that being forced to wear face coverings or health screenings is an egregious overreach of government.
Please click the first link to read Mr. Olsen’s filing in circuit court. Included is his draft restraining order, and a judge’s order denying it.
