September 8, 2020 | By Jenni Fink | Source
“Governor Gary Herbert restricting people’s behaviors during the pandemic didn’t only infringe on Utahan’s rights as individuals, but also as parents, a group of people argue in a lawsuit.
![a car parked on the side of a road: A car pulls into one of the first drive through testing facilities for Coronavirus (COVID-19) virus in a parking lot outside the University of Utah's Sugar House Health Clinic in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 16. On Thursday, eight parents filed a lawsuit against Governor Gary Herbert alleging his executive orders violated their rights as parents and individuals.]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"80","h":"50","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB18OXa0.img?h=499&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"},"size3column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"39","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB18OXa0.img?h=390&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"},"size2column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"39","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB18OXa0.img?h=390&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"}})
Eight parents in Utah sued Herbert on Thursday for instituting executive orders they believe were unlawful and need to be prohibited from being enforced. Herbert’s orders violate the state Constitution and go against the founders’ beliefs by preventing people from choosing how they worship, educate their children and move about the state, the group’s lawsuit says.
Beginning in March, Utahns were required to quarantine at home if they tested positive for the new coronavirus or were exposed to someone who tested positive. That “unlawful quarantine,” effectively “imprisoned the people against their will,” according to the lawsuit.
In arguing against the restrictions, the parents cited the Book of Mormon and the state Constitution as evidence that their rights had been trampled on by the governor’s actions.
The majority of the framers of Utah’s Constitution belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and held to the belief included in the Book of Mormon that Utah was consecrated by God as a “land of liberty.” Those liberties include the ability to worship God how they choose and, according to the Book of Mormon, human law doesn’t have the right to “dictate forms of public or private devotion.”
By closing churches, Herbert infringed on that right to choose how a person worships, the lawsuit argues.
While the lawsuit takes a broad stance against the legality of Herbert’s executive orders, it mostly focuses on the impact on children’s education, a right the lawsuit says falls on parents, not the government.”