Third California Court in a Week Rules Against the Government Regarding COVID Lockdown Orders – Opinion

California’s third court has issued encouraging news regarding COVID lockdown orders.

Mark Meuser is the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. He will be facing off against Democrat Alex Padilla on November. On Monday, he shared some good news via Twitter:

Meuser elaborated the following:

Meuser is not an attorney of record on the three cases at issue, but as a constitutional law attorney who has been fighting back against COVID tyranny, he’s very encouraged to see these wins and glad to share the news. Meuser was kind enough to talk with me about the three major victories.

The most recent of the rulings involves Tinhorn Flats Saloon and Grill and their ongoing battle with the City of Burbank, which we’ve covered previously here at RedState. Tinhorn Flats has been vocal in its opposition to Governor Gavin Newsom’s draconian shutdown orders and, after the City sued the business for its failure to comply, Tinhorn Flats countersued, asserting that the government was targeting the business for speaking out and thereby violating its First Amendment rights. In Monday’s ruling, the Los Angeles Superior Court rejected the government’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, finding that Tinhorn Flats has alleged a proper cause of action and allowing the countersuit to proceed. As Meuser noted to me, this is a procedural victory, not a substantive one — yet, but this was a critical hurdle to clear.

In the case involving the San Jose Calvary Chapel, the Sixth District Court of Appeals for California found that sanctions imposed against the church’s pastor for failure to obey Newsom’s and the local government’s shutdown orders must be removed. Those shutdown orders were subsequently found to be unconstitutional — the government did not have the authority to shut down churches. Accordingly, the sanction of the pastor being in violation of those unconstitutional orders was not appropriate.

Another recent win was at an Orange County nail salon. As Meuser explained, under California’s code, if a government commandeers property pursuant to an emergency order, the government must compensate the property owner for that taking. The salon contends that since Newsom, through his orders, picked and chose which businesses were “essential” and which were not, this amounted to commandeering of the business that were ordered to shut down, and thus they are owed compensation. The court, in that case, ruled that the salon’s case could proceed.

Meuser noted that each of these victories would have a significant impact on future cases. They are all huge, and they will impact future cases.

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