by Kara Machowski
On Tuesday Bloomberg News reported that White House Attorney General William Barr announced that states that continue to impose strict rules for ‘dealing with the coronavirus’ will face legal action by the Justice Department. Barr’s comments that came Tuesday, post some governors speaking out that they will refuse to implement opening procedures and will continue to impose lockdown. South Carolina and Georgia announced that they would be opening up some businesses despite the fact that they don’t qualify under the White Houses' Covid-19 relaxed restrictions as a safe state to reopen. They are actually seeing a rise of coronavirus cases some days in the hundreds, others over 1,000 positive cases per day. That number doesn’t even include the possible infects that are living with it and don’t know that they have it. Georgia even plans to open up nail and hair saloons, two places that are impossible to keep social distancing, even at the recommended half capacity. President Trump said at Tuesday’s White House briefing that he would be speaking with the governor of Georgia that evening. One business owner in Georgia stated that she would remain closed until mid-May, even if she’s allowed to open. Barr also stated that states who don’t open would be infringing on the constitution. This comes after President Trump addressed Americans last Friday saying that some governors had “gone too far”, referring to strict stay-at-home orders, procedures that he told citizens to follow. Essentially, if certain states that refuse to open have lawsuits against them by citizens or businesses, the DOJ would aid them by joining in on the lawsuits. Barr said “as lawsuits develop, as specific cases emerge in the states, we’ll take a look at them” In a Tuesday interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Barr called some current stay-at-home orders "burdens on civil liberties". He also touted President Trump’s handling of the virus by saying "I think the president's guidance has been, as I say, superb and very commonsensical, and I think a lot of the governors are following that.” So just when you think that it’s up the your governor or mayor to keep you safe and decide when it's appropriate to open up, they might be forced into opening in fear of the Justice Department bringing charges against their state that is already financially struggling.
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