Austin, woke capital of Texas, may have some difficulty keeping its mask mandates going in the face of Governor Abbott’s lifting of the statewide mask orders.
Abbott formulated this new policy last week, to nationwide controversy. Officials in Austin and Travis County responded by announcing their intent to keep the old orders in full effect until April 15.
At least.
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Wednesday that his office will take Austin officials to court,” explains The Epoch Times, “if they continue to refuse to comply with an order lifting mask mandates across the state.”
Austin officials may think that the pandemic gives them a special license.
It doesn’t.
In these United States, the primary governmental entities are the states.
The federal government is built on top of the union of states, supreme only regarding the limited number of explicitly defined powers given to it in the Constitution. But beneath that, government entities are creatures of the states. Cities, counties, and metro governments are incorporated by their respective states, which retain overriding authority.*
Yet, perhaps as a sign of the general lawlessness of trendy tyranny, a spokesperson for Austin Mayor Steve Adler told Forbes yesterday that the city does not intend to rescind the order and that officials “will continue to do everything within our power, using every tool available to us to reduce the spread of the virus.”
Is it nitpicky to demand that our public servants not do “everything in their power” — but only things within their authority?
No, it is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* Under Abbott’s new policy, Texas businesses and individuals remain free to determine mask policies on their property.
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2 replies on “Not Nitpicky”
Isn’t it interesting that the Biden regime is letting illegals flow across the border without covid tests?
Do you suppose that the plan is to increase positive tests in Texas and blame it on the governor?
Unfortunately, the ‘necessary and proper’ clause means the federal government is not limited to those powers explicitly defined in Article 1 or in later Amendments. Apparently the 10th Amendment was nullified without telling anyone.
See McCullough vs Maryland.
The Supreme Court determined that Congress did have the power under the Constitution to create a national bank. Even though the Constitution does not explicitly include that power, there is also
nothing in the Constitution that restricts Congress’ powers to those specifically enumerated. The Necessary and Proper Clause gives Congress the authority to make “all laws which shall be necessary
and proper” for exercising the powers that are specifically enumerated, and the establishment of a national bank is “necessary and proper” to exercising other enumerated powers.