New York’s Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul is demanding that the courts grant her authorization to detain citizens in “quarantine camps” against their will.
Hochul has gone back to court seeking permission to detain New Yorkers in quarantine camps.
The move would see citizens placed in the camps without notice, detained without rights, and held for as long as state health officials decide.
The plan also has no age limits, meaning children could be taken from their families.
The fight arose during the pandemic when New York officials decided they would adopt a new rule giving the state exactly that power.
The detention camps are part of Gov. Hochul’s “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” scheme.
A lawsuit, filed in April 2022, ensued, and the result was that the detention plan was ruled unconstitutional.
Judge Ronald Ploetz responded to the lawsuit weeks later and ruled that the strategy didn’t meet the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.
According to a report from lawyer Bobbie Anne Flower Cox at the Brownstone Institute, Hochul, through Attorney General Letitia James, is now appealing the court’s rejection of her plan.
“The case, Borrello v. Hochul, which we won last July, was brought against the governor and her Department of Health, on behalf of a group of NYS Legislators, Senator George Borrello, Assemblyman Chris Tague, Assemblyman (now Congressman) Mike Lawler, together with our citizens’ group, Uniting NYS,” Cox said in a statement.
“The main premise of the case was a breach of Separation of Powers – meaning the governor and her Department of Health did not have the authority to make their dystopian ‘Isolation and Quarantine Procedures’ regulation.”
The rule “allowed the Department of Health to pick and choose which New Yorkers they could lock up or lockdown, with no proof that you were ever even exposed to, let alone actually sick with, a communicable disease,” Cox explained.
“They could have locked you down in your home, or they could have removed you from your home and forced you to quarantine in a facility of their choosing.”
The rule would allow state authorities to detain people in the camps with no time limits, no appeal, no age limits, and no rights at all, the report explained.
“You could have received a knock at the door from your local police or sheriff telling you that you had to go with them… by order of the Health Department,” she said.
“Furthermore, the regulation had no procedure by which you could be released from quarantine, no way for you to try to negotiate your way out.”
“Interestingly, they did not file their appeal to try to overturn this horrific regulation before that crucial election,” the lawyer said.
The plaintiffs in the case released a statement expressing their disappointment in the state’s pursuit of such an extreme plan.
“The constitutional separation of powers and the right of due process are principles that cannot be compromised,” the statement said.
“This case has been on solid ground from the start and Judge Plotez’s ruling only confirmed that. The notion that a state agency could unilaterally adopt a policy that mandates authoritarian-style isolation and quarantine procedures would have been unimaginable a few short years ago.
“The unconstitutional power grab must be stopped in its tracks.”
Dr. Naomi Wolf, a former political advisor to the presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton and Al Gore, is campaigning against Hochul’s plans.
Wolf blasted the efforts during an appearance on “Real America’s Voice.”
“You’d think that’s an imaginary headline, but it’s 100% accurate,” Wolf said.
https://slaynews.com/news/ny-governor-demands-courts-authorization-detain-citizens-quarantine-camps/