9/2/2020 UPDATE:
Metairie attorneys Stephen Petit and Justin Molaison filed suit on behalf of four plaintiffs. Unfortunately, on August 6th, 2020, State District Judge Janice Clark ruled on behalf of the State. There are other lawsuits pending in Jefferson Parish and against the state as well, by citizens and other attorneys.
We absolutely appreciate the tremendous time and effort put forth by both of the attorney’s in this case, and everyone else who played a role in moving this lawsuit forward.
About the lawsuit project (updated 07/13/2020 10:50am)
What is this about?
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and other public officials are violating the Constitution of the State of Louisiana’s Declaration of Rights as well as the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution with the unprecedented tyrannical response to the Covid-19 flu.
This is causing demonstrable and devastating harm to the men, women and children of Louisiana, patients, businesses and the economy of the State. In addition to that, he and others have created a state of panic with many in our citizenry which has caused extreme distress.
A group of concerned citizens and a Louisiana attorney are developing a lawsuit for a Permanent Injunction against this type of illegal action by the State. This is not a suit for financial damages (except for possible legal fees). It is a suit to stop this atrocious illegal action by this or any future governor or state official.
You can support this lawsuit by volunteering at this time. We have several volunteer roles (internet research, administrative/record-keeping, the social-media team to broadcast updates, etc). Another important role is of plaintiff, if you feel that you’d like to do that. We’ll need multiple plaintiffs.
Thank you for your concern and patriotism. We can NEVER, EVER, EVER allow this tyranny to happen again, in our state or in our country.
We need volunteers in several roles:
- Find and track other Corona-based Constitutional violation cases across the country which are reported in the media
- Communicate updates about the case to Social Media
- Legal research of specific cases our attorney directs you to
- Administrative record keeping of plaintiffs and volunteers, witnesses, etc.
- Other tasks which come up as the case develops.
To Volunteer or for questions, please email Connie Zimmermann at: ReOpenLaLawsuit@gmail.com
Two actions you can take in the meantime:
1.) Are you aware that the Louisiana House of Representatives or the Louisiana Senate has the TOTAL POWER to Terminate the State of Health Emergency called by the governor?
This power was written into the Statutes developed specifically for Public Health Emergencies. It says,
“The legislature, in consultation with the public health authority, by a petition signed by a majority of the surviving members of either house, may terminate a state of public health emergency at any time. This petition terminating the public health emergency may establish a period during which no other declaration of public health emergency may be issued. Thereupon, the governor shall issue an executive order or proclamation ending the state of public health or emergency.”
The statute can be found here:
https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=207684
This would mean that 53 Representatives or 20 Senators. At this time there are almost 40 signatures on a petition written by Representative Alan Seabaugh of District 5. You should immediately contact your Representative to strongly urge him/her to sign the petition. By not signing, they are killing Louisiana. These Reps have been threatened in several ways to not sign, so you must compel them to use courage. As Representative Danny McCormick said on the House floor on June 25th, “Fear is contagious, but so is courage.”
We believe that this power was included in this statute for a situation EXACTLY like we have today. A Governor who is wildly overstepping his authority.
You should CALL your State Representative and URGE them to sign the Seabaugh Petition to Terminate the State of Health Emergency. If they say they have already signed, please thank them profusely.
This is a link to the official Louisiana page for the House of Representatives. You can search by address:
https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/FindMyLegislators.aspx
2.) Another EXTREMELY IMPORTANT action you can take:
We have actually had a Representative say something such as, “My constituents are fine with the shutdown. I haven’t heard any complaints.” Hard to believe, but he did. So, a very valuable step you can take to do your part to end this horrible situation is to email* letters describing general description of your hardships and suffering, whether it be:
- you or a loved-one being denied visitors in a healthcare setting. What it is like for you and what it is like for them.
- loss of business income (dollar amount not necessary, just that you’ve lost income and why)
- loss of the business itself
- loss of employees
- children missing graduation events
- long-planned wedding events being canceled
- long-planned birthday or anniversary events being canceled
- forced to miss the funeral of a loved-one
- stall or loss of a startup business
- life-savings depleted due to business or other loss
- anxiety due to the panic which has been promoted
- anxiety due to the forced wearing of masks
- cruise or vacation canceled
*Please direct those emails to the office of Representative Kathy Edmonston at: hse088@legis.la.gov . We have a contact in her office who will send your email to the Republican Representatives (the Democrat Reps and certain Republican Reps have shown zero interest in stepping up to honor their oath of office regarding this issue).