States
DOJ Signs Onto Virginia Church’s Lawsuit Against Northam After Jail, Fine Threats
Police threatened a pastor over a 16-person church service.
The Department of Justice is supporting a Virginia church’s lawsuit against the state, after police threatened the church’s pastor over a planned 16-person Palm Sunday service with a potential $2,500 fine or jail time should be refuse to cancel the gathering.
Pastor Kevin Wilson of Lighthouse Fellowship Church on Chincoteague Island had planned a service with no more than 16 people, who would be socially distanced in a church sanctuary with a capacity of 293 people. Law enforcement claimed he would be violating the state constitution by disobeying Governor Ralph Northam’s state of emergency declaration.
Legal advocacy group Liberty Counsel would later go on to represent Pastor Wilson in his lawsuit against Northam and the commonwealth, claiming Northan violated the First Amendment rights of the pastor by shutting down the regulated church service.
The DOJ panned Virginia for its onerous and draconian social distancing restriction enforcement in case statement obtained by Fox News.
“The Commonwealth of Virginia has offered no good reason for refusing to trust congregants who promise to use care in worship in the same way it trusts accountants, lawyers, and other workers to do the same.”
Attorney General William Barr has blasted what he sees as excessive social distancing restrictions in previous weeks, warning that the DOJ would litigate against states that go overboard.
Virginia public health officials have even gone so far as to suggest certain restrictions on the public could persist for two years due to coronavirus, remaining in place until scientists develop a completely hypothetical vaccine.
States
Billionaire Mike Bloomberg Pays $16 Million in Fines of Black and Hispanic Felons to Enable Them to Vote
Bribery?
Billionaire and former New York City Mayor has raised $16 million dollars to pay off outstanding fines of Black and Hispanic felons in Florida, according to reporting from Axios on Tuesday. Florida restricts the voting rights of convicted criminals until they’ve paid off fines levied for their crimes by the criminal justice system.
It appears that Bloomberg’s fine repayment initative was only available to Black and Hispanic felons. Axios reported that to qualify for Bloomberg’s money, applicants had to have outstanding fines of less than $1,500, be already registered to vote, and to be Black or Latino.
White felons need not apply.
The program has reportedly already cleared the fines of 32,000 felons in the state, enabling them to vote in the election. It erases the punitive aspect of the court system’s fines, which were levied in the first place in order to require convicted criminals to personally make amends for their actions.
Bloomberg’s felon bailout giveaway is legally questionable, and Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has requested that Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody investigate what he’s doing. If he’s paying felons to vote for any one specific candidate, Bloomberg is in violation of campaign finance rules and could be liable to serve jail time .
#BREAKING: I'm calling on the Florida Attorney General to launch an investigation into @MikeBloomberg for potentially engaging in bribery and vote buying in the state of Florida. pic.twitter.com/2pAjZlAwSh
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) September 22, 2020
“The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy and no American should be denied that right,” said a Bloomberg spokesperson when asked about the fine repayment initiative. But it doesn’t seem as if the failed Democratic primary candidate is willing to buy back the voting rights of individuals who might be less inclined to vote for Joe Biden in November.
Bloomberg already tried and failed to buy the nomination in the Democratic primary, and now he’s trying to buy the crucial swing state of Florida for Joe Biden. Corrupt oligarchs should not be allowed to abuse the political system with impunity.
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