Lawyer: ‘No Science’ to Support Edwards’ Bar Closing Rule [VIDEO]
Jimmy Faircloth, the attorney representing the Louisiana bar owners challenging Governor John Bel Edwards latest Coronavirus mandates, explains the suit, the process and the chances of success.
"There are eleven bar owners from the Acadiana area, which is in the Western District of the federal court system," says Faircloth, "There are also twenty plaintiffs we represent in a companion suit that was filed...in the Eastern District. The suit, in a nutshell, alleges that the bar closure restrictions are not sufficiently tailored, that they are overly burdensome and, frankly, there's no science to support the disctinction between bars and any other establishment with regards to the transmission of COVID."
Faircloth, who formerly served as counsel to Governor Bobby Jindal, says if he were in that same position today, "I would tell (the Governor) to listen to the health experts and read the data. And if there's no differential treatment or differential result looking at the data and you can't differentiate. It's really a question of equal protection. Right now (Edwards) has an order in place that essentially is based on the assumption that bar owners account for a disproportionate...transmission of COVID."
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And in an interview with Assosiated Press, Faricloth makes the case that a more educated public can make informed decisions. “Further, the public has become well versed in the art of social distancing, and businesses have learned to alter their environments to accommodate this practice," he says, "Although perhaps justified months ago, it is no longer sufficient to rely on hysteria, hearsay or biased commentary as a basis to impose overly-broad, draconian restrictions on fundamental rights."