Former US Congressman and current senate canidate Jason Lewis sued Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Tuesday, over his weeks long stay at home order.
Lewis filed his lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota. According to his official complaint, the governor’s stay at home orders and associated economic shutdowns violate the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV of the U.S. Constitution, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Central to Lewis’s legal argument are his claims that Walz doesn’t actually have the authority to enforce his orders— and that even if he did, the unequal manner in which he he has applied them, allowing some business to open while forcing other to stay closed, is also illegal. (RELATED: Casino Allowed To Reopen As Restaurants Are Forced To Stay Closed)
“What started as a fight against an invisible danger has morphed into a fight against a very clear and present danger, and that is a fight against unconstitutional power grabs being waged by radical liberals like Senator Tina Smith and Governor Tim Walz,” Lewis said via a press release the same day his suit was filed.
He also criticized one of Minnesota’s US senators, Tina Smith, for “holding COVID relief hostage to ram through her liberal agenda.” This is not the first time he’s accused Smith of prioritizing partisan objectives over pragmatic solutions amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. In late March he took a sharp jab at Senate Democrats, saying they used the coronavirus relief bill as a “political tool to push their radical agenda, including the Green New Deal… Tina Smith must immediately put aside the partisan politics and put the needs of the American people first,” Lewis concluded.
The senatorial canidate is not alone in his legal efforts against Minnesota’s democrat governor. The Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC) has also filed against Walz in federal court, representing churches that say the governor’s harsh restrictions on religious services are unfair when compared to his more relaxed rules about retail outlets.
“It is clearly unconstitutional for the governor to allow people to go to the Mall of America but not Living Word Christian Center,” says an attorney from the the UMLC, per the Star Tribune.
A separate suit has also been initiated by several small businesses around Minnesota about three weeks ago that say they’ve treated unfairly compared to big box stores like Walmart and Target that get to remain open.
“Why can’t I sell Nikes at my store while Walmart down the road can sell the same shoes there? I’m only going to have a couple customers in my store at a time, Walmart’s got 500 in there at a time- why can’t I be open?” asks one individual involved in that lawsuit, per a CBS affiliate.
Erick Kaardal, a long time liberty-minded Minnesota lawyer who’s no stranger to going against the government has filed his own suit as well.
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
