A lawsuit by the Thomas More Society seeks to end Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s effective ban on in-person campaigning.
“For the past several months, the governor has essentially, at the threat of arrest, made retail politicking illegal,” Phill Kline, director of the Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society, told Breitbart News.
Kline said meeting people face-to-face in the community is “the bread and butter of those out of power. Those in power can buy media, they have access to greater financial resources and they can earn media.”
He argued Whitmer’s crowd limitations and other restrictions put challengers at a disadvantage, and are thus silencing political speech.
“The Bill of Rights does not take a vacation during a pandemic,” Kline said.
“The governor, in an election in which she has an interest, is able to say this group can march and this group cannot. I will walk with these people in defiance of my own orders, but I won’t allow these people to gather. That’s not America,” he said.
Kline was referring to a June protest in Detroit where Whitmer appeared to violate her social distancing orders and removed her mask to speak. But in April, Whitmer said protesters denouncing her lockdown orders were “endangering people’s lives.”
“We’re all equal before the law and we should be treated equally with the law,” he said.
Kline said Whitmer has “pronounced herself to be the law.” He said the governor is bypassing the legislature, despite its ability to meet and consider her proposals.
“She says, ‘No, I can’t trust the legislature. I’m in charge. Here is the law,'” he told Breitbart News, noting Whitmer’s orders “span almost every relational activity” from schools to churches to sporting events and other forms of entertainment, such as movie theaters and bowling.
Kline said there isn’t a police force large enough to enforce Whitmer’s orders.
“So whether you’re punishment under the law is by luck — or bad luck — or happenstance,” he said, “Or whether you’ve offended the governor, like Karl Manke,” the 77-year-old barber who was prosecuted for keeping his shop open amid Whitmer’s demands.
He said such disparate application of laws will happen when “the governor claims such authority over everybody’s life.”
Kline said he hopes the federal court will move “very, very swiftly,” because the November election is looming.
“The time is very, very short here,” he said. “There’s no remedy post-election for essentially denying persons the right to influence that election.”
Kline and the Thomas More Society are representing One Nation in the suit.
“One Nation supports reasonable and rational dialogue on race that acknowledged our nation’s failures while respecting its goodness,” One Nation President Dr. Linda Lee Tarver said in a news release.
“However, we were told we cannot rally and continue to be confronted with ever-changing, confusing and ambiguous orders from the Governor.”
Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on weekends. Listen to segments on YouTube or download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, and follow him on Parler.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.