TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Apr 29, 2020

U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors to identify coronavirus-related restrictions from state and local governments “that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.” The memo to U.S. attorneys states that if an ordinance “crosses the line from an appropriate exercise of authority to stop the spread of COVID-19 into an overbearing infringement of constitutional and statutory protections, the Department of Justice may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court.” The move comes two weeks after the department filed a statement of interest in a civil case in Mississippi, siding with a Christian church where local officials had tried to stop Holy Week services broadcast to congregants sitting in their cars in the parking lot. The Times Free Press has the story from the Associated Press.