Dr. Scott Jensen doubled down on his call for civil disobedience as state lawmakers prepare to introduce legislation he helped write that would make Minnesota a health freedom “sanctuary state.”
President Joe Biden recently announced measures that effectively require the coronavirus vaccine for the majority of U.S. workers by mandating that employers verify their employees’ vaccination status or face massive recurring fines. Jensen, a former state senator and current Republican candidate for governor, believes Minnesotans need to practice “peaceful, nonviolent noncompliance” to forestall these federal mandates. The purpose of this is twofold: to provide time for the courts to review Biden’s orders, and because Jensen hopes to nullify them at the state level soon.
“I don’t think the federal government has been given that authority [to require vaccines] — and many people smarter than me across the country, lawyers and jurists have said the same thing,” Jensen claimed in a recent video. Jensen remains hopeful that the court system may overturn the new rules. “We need to push back at least long enough so that the courts and the judicial system can weigh in,” he said.
By “push back” Jensen means practice civil disobedience. “We all find ourselves in situations in life where we have to push back. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable,” he said. “Recently I’ve taken a lot of flack because I dared to use the words ‘civil disobedience,'” he continued, apparently referencing a recent hit piece published against him by the Star Tribune.
Despite criticism, he maintains that civil disobedience is “justifiable in exceptional circumstances,” comparing the present situation where employers are being asked to verify vaccine compliance to the situation that emerged last year when churches were asked to limit the size of their congregations to just 10 parishioners. At that time, the churches “said we’re not going to comply,” Jensen recalled, and the effect of this was that “Gov. Walz buckled.”
“Civil disobedience is not lawlessness, but instead a higher form of lawfulness designed to bring man made laws into conformity with higher laws,” Jensen said in another video, paraphrasing Martin Luther King, Jr.
Notably, Jensen is not asking Minnesotans to disobey indefinitely. Rather, he is about to field a bill that will make Minnesota a “health sanctuary state.”
“I’ve written a bill over the last nine days, and that bill focuses on four different things: no vaccine passports in Minnesota, no private sector vaccine mandates, no kids in masks and no emergency lockdowns,” he recently told voters.
“The bill has been written and I want to get it in process as fast as possible,” he said, noting that Sens. Roger Chamberlain, Mark Koran and Jim Abeler will support it in the Senate while Reps. Mary Franson, Eric Lucero and others will sign on as authors in the House.
Jensen also called out Minnesota lawmakers who do not seek to oppose federal coronavirus rules. “If we’re not willing to, then can we at least please cut the political pandering and just tell our constituents why we’re not willing to get on board to make Minnesota a health freedom sanctuary state?” he asked.
“Nobody likes the idea of being labeled ‘you’re disobedient’ but sometimes you have to be,” Jensen said. “Our rights as citizens and our liberties are being intruded on like never before in my lifetime.”
Meanwhile, other state lawmakers like Rep. Erik Mortensen supported by Action 4 Liberty’s Jake Duesenberg have launched similar efforts. Mortensen hopes to propose his plan as an amendment to a spending bill that will be discussed during an upcoming special session.
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.
