House Democrats seek briefing from AG Barr on state stay-at-home restrictions

Several Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are asking Attorney General William Barr for a briefing on legal action the Department of Justice has taken – or has threatened to take — against state governments that have imposed strict public health and safety restrictions to combat COVID-19.

“We write concerning efforts by the Department to use its litigating authority—or the threat of that authority—in a manner that would undermine public health and safety restrictions put forth by state governments to combat COVID-19 and to request a staff briefing on these matters. As Members of the House Judiciary Committee, who also represent some of the communities hardest hit by the deadly epidemic, it is vitally important that we understand both the public health impact and legal underpinnings regarding these matters,” the Democrats asked in a letter to Barr.

The letter was drafted by Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), and Jamie Raskin (D-MD).

“With regards to the Department’s legal authority to override state public health restrictions, we are concerned the Department’s position supporting efforts to suspend stay-at-home directives treads on questionable constitutional grounds. Under relevant legal precedent, content-neutral restrictions on the right to assemble, for example, are justifiable so long as they are narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest. In the Department’s eagerness to litigate against these measures, we are concerned you may have misunderstood or mischaracterized relevant law, including the orders at issue in the Virginia litigation,” they added.

The Democrats added that the department’s actions are particularly troubling considering the “lack of a coordinated national response to the pandemic by the Administration.”

“Rather, the President and his allies have stated that state and local governments are, in many respects, on their own as they seek to address this crisis. In light of our myriad questions and concerns—which go directly to the safety of our constituents and the Department’s role in our system of federalism—we request a briefing with the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, Eric Dreiband; the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Matthew Schneider; and other relevant Department officials,” they wrote.