Because a large and growing number of elected officials do not have a functional awareness of the Bill of Rights, I will recite the first and second amendments to help them out. Will then cite merely a few of the recent violations thereof.
Article I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Article II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
..the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
4/17/20 – NJ.com – Woman charged for organizing protest of Murphy’s coronavirus stay-at-home order – The woman who organized a protest at the New Jersey state capital was cited by the State Police with violating the stay-at-home order. She was not arrested but still faces possibility of fine or jail. Article suggests she was the only person charged. Read that as you wish, but it does not reflect favorably on perspective of either the governor or state police towards the constitution when the leader of a protest is facing criminal prosecution.
… prohibiting the free exercise thereof … or the right of the people peaceably to assemble…
4/16/20 – PJ Media – Mayor Gives Infuriatingly Flimsy Excuse for Fining Christians $500 Over Drive-In Church Services – The Mayor of Greenville, Mississippi had the city police issue $500 fines to people who were sitting in their car in a church parking lot listening to the worship service on their car radio. This in spite of the governor saying in the stay-at-home order that drive-in worship services were not banned.
Article points out that coronavirus has a poor transmission rate through rolled-up car windows. The only danger of spreading COVID-19 was when the police ordered people to roll down their window to identify themselves and receive a $500 citation.
The mayor withdrew the tickets only after the Alliance Defending Freedom and the United State Department of Justice filed notices of interest in the case.
Several articles on this issue do not indicate reading the constitution had any part in the mayor’s enlightenment.
… prohibiting the free exercise thereof … or the right of the people peaceably to assemble…
4/17/20 – Daily Bulletin – Riverside, San Bernardino counties change course, allow drive-up worship – It would appeat to me that after officials in Riverside and San Bernardino counties got around to reading the Constitution, they decided to grant their permission for people in those counties to exercise their first amendment rights to free expression of religion.
Congregations will now be allowed to conduct ‘drive-in’ style worship, which means they may sit in a church’s parking lot, remain in their car, and listen to the worship on their car radio. Even that was banned until a few days ago.
It took a lawsuit in San Bernardino county and several credible threats of litigation in Riverside county for the officials to realize that the U.S. Constitution still applied to them.
Attorney representing three churches said those congregations wanted the same abilities (i.e. freedom) as a drive-through restaurant. A subtle distinction the attorney intentionally didn’t mention is that the constitution does not enumerate a drive-through restaurant as a fundamental freedom in the country.
This attorney commented on the county’s change of attitude thusly:
“I knew that once we had oxygen circulating in the collective brain of the county that they would see reason and respond in a constructive manner.”