May 19, 2020 | By Delaware Business Now |
Three Sussex County Republican legislators have asked the U.S. Attorney General to determine whether Gov. John Carney’s stay at home orders violated the U.S. Constitution.
In a letter addressed to William Barr, Attorney General of the United States, the three Delaware legislators alleged Governor John C. Carney of violations of the United States Constitution.
“The Governor of Delaware has usurped the authority of the citizens of the State of Delaware and the legislative and judicial branches of government,” the letter alleged. “It must be noted that the determinations made by the Governor are not supported by a rational connection or nexus to the proclaimed state of emergency. The exercise by the Governor of his power has been done in violation of the protections guaranteed by the United States Constitution.”
The letter, drafted by Senators Brian Pettyjohn (R-Georgetown) and David Wilson (R-Lincoln) with Rep. Ruth Briggs King (R-Georgetown) alleges violations of the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, as they apply to the citizens of Delaware.”
In closing, the letter requests Barr’s “immediate attention to this broad, unconstitutional overreaching by the Governor of Delaware and the wholesale violation of the important rights guaranteed all citizens of these United States.”
The nation’s governors issued the emergency orders as part of the effort to combat coronavirus.
Legislators in Delaware remained largely silent regarding the orders until the emergence of reopen movements in Michigan and other states. A number of suits have been filed around the country questioning the constitutionality of the orders that are typically employed after hurricanes and other disasters of short duration.
The three centers represent a county that is currently seeing a coronavirus outbreak in the area of its poultry processing plants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was brought in to work with the community and poultry companies to deal with the virus.
The rate of coronavirus infections is four times the figure in New Castle County.
