As you likely know, in addition to practicing law, I am also proudly a Fellow at the prestigious Brownstone Institute. For those readers who may be unfamiliar with Brownstone, it is a non-partisan think tank dedicated to “elevating learning, science, progress, and universal rights to the forefront of public life”, as noted on their elaborate and informative website.
Earlier this month, we had Brownstone’s 5th annual conference, at which I participated as one of the attorneys on the “Law and Legal Issues” panel. The panel was moderated by my colleague, Brownstone founder and President, Jeffrey Tucker, who asked me to discuss the harrowed story of my epic David v. Goliath battle against the worst governor in our nation, who runs one of the most radical states… New York. Above is the video clip of that discussion, and below is the transcript of the discussion.
At the beginning of the panel discussion, Jeffrey introduced the segment by summing up the stunning fact that during COVID, the government went absolutely off the rails, tossing the Constitution into a wastepaper basket without even flinching. He said:
One of the great shocks that happened in the Spring of 2020 was that suddenly the Bill of Rights went away, and we didn’t have any way to litigate to get it back because the courts were all closed.
The lockdowns pertained to the courts, too, incredibly!
It was as if the government believed that our Constitution had an “emergency escape clause” that would allow the government to ignore it during a time of emergency. I can assure you, no such escape clause exists! In fact, it is during times of emergency that the Constitution is most needed, for it then that the government will try to overstep and take away our rights.
The first issue that Jeffrey asked me to discuss was my quarantine camp lawsuit against New York State…
*Transcript:*
Jeffrey: So you won that case, but then it was reversed, not by a jury, but by a panel of appellate judges.
Bobbie Anne: Right.
So, for anybody that’s not familiar with the quarantine camp lawsuit, New York had a regulation which was issued by the Department of Health. It was not something that went through the legislature. So it was not a law, it was a regulation. And it said that the Department of Health could remove you from your home with the force of police and put you into a detention center, facility, camp, whatever noun you want to choose, and that they could put you there for however long they wanted. There was no time limit. And your only way to regain your freedom was for you to hire an attorney and sue your way out!
You had no right to an attorney until after you were locked up.
And they didn’t have to prove you were sick!
Jeffrey: Yeah. And now this happened under Cuomo, you said.
Bobbie Anne: This started under then-Governor Cuomo, and then when he stepped down in the summer of 2021, Hochul, who is the current governor, picked it up and ran with it. So it had been ongoing.
So, I sued in 2022, the beginning of 2022, I sued the New York State Department of Health, Governor Hochul and others.
And we won that case.
And the argument was was not scientific. You know, quarantines don’t work… No, I didn’t go anywhere near the science because the courts at that time during COVID, the height of COVID, they were not listening to scientific arguments. People were losing left and right trying to argue science, “masks don’t work”, “quarantines don’t work.”
So we went with a legal, a constitutional argument of separation of powers… The governor and the Department of Health cannot create a regulation that overrules a law because they already have a quarantine law in New York State, which is full of due process. Every state has their own quarantine law.
And so we won.
The court struck down the regulation saying that it was unconstitutional on multiple levels. And then Hochul appeals the case. And the, as Jeffrey said, the appellate court, which is a panel of five judges appointed by the governor, reversed and said that my plaintiffs had no standing. I was representing a group of New York state legislators who were saying, hey, guys, wrong branch of government. You took our power. The legislature has that power to change the law, not the Department of Health and the governor. So they apparently don’t have standing, which is completely untrue. They do have standing as per case law in the highest court of New York State.
So, we then appealed to the highest court in New York State, twice. I appealed once as-of-right, which means they have to take the case because it’s a constitutional case. Their ruling came down that it was not a constitutional case, shockingly, even though we’re arguing about the Constitution! So they wouldn’t hear the case.
So, then I appealed again, this time, not as-of-right, but asking the court on their own volition to hear the case. And, you know, the argument was, hey, you know, this is good for humanity. You know, we shouldn’t have the governor and the Department of Health ruling the state and the legislature having no power. That would kind of be lopsided. Right?
And just January, February of this year, so three years later, they made their final ruling and said, nope, we are not going to hear the case.
So as of today, the quarantine camp regulation does not exist, because we did get it struck down when it was still in an emergency phase. They were working to make it permanent, but we got it shot down before they were able to make it permanent, thank goodness.
But what it means is that Hochul and the Department of Health can reissue that regulation whenever they want. They they would have to go through the steps again of issuing a regulation, but they could do that.
And there would be nobody to stop them because, you know, it’s a regulation. They don’t have to go through the legislature. Not that the legislature would stand up to them on that.
So, that was a huge awakening to the fact that courts, particularly state courts, depending on what state you’re in, are going to play politics.
Jeffrey: Yep!
If you want to hear the full panel discussion, Epoch Times live streamed the event, and you can watch the Law panel here starting at the 47:00 minute mark.
If you’d like more information and hear details about my quarantine camp battle, you can find live interviews I have done on the topic here. Alternatively, you can read some of my articles on this topic as published by Brownstone, here and here.
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