BREAKING: Shreveport Judge Blows Up Perkins’ Mask Mandate

Sure wish we had something like this in Baton Rouge. But congratulations to the business community in Shreveport for, at least temporarily, striking a blow for freedom and the constitution at the expense of hysteria and tyranny.

A Caddo District Court judge has temporarily stopped enforcement of Mayor Adrian Perkins’ face mask mandate.

Judge Craig Marcotte granted a temporary restraining order in response to an injunction filed Friday morning by five Shreveport business owners who allege Perkins does not have authority to issue an order requiring face masks.

The court order stops Perkins from enforcing the order, conducting any searches or taking action against businesses. Perkins has until 5 p.m. July 16 to respond. The plaintiffs are given until 5 p.m. July 17 to reply.

A court hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. July 20 to determine if the temporary restraining order will be converted to a preliminary injunction.

The businesses filed their lawsuit Friday morning in Caddo District Court. The want the judge to block Perkins’ requirement that face masks be worn in all businesses in the city.

Violations are assessed to the businesses, which face being shut down, having their water turned off or loss of liquor licenses if applicable. The order went into effect at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The lawsuit’s plaintiffs are Strawn’s Eat Shop Too, Monjuni’s of Portico, Air U Shreveport, The Brain Train and Bearing Service & Supply.

The lawsuit alleges Perkins has no authority to “command any conduct by citizens.” His order is not authorized by state law and is contrary to the Shreveport City Charter, and there is no authority that authorizes Perkins to impose penalties for violations, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit cites information from medical professionals in February, including the U.S. Surgeon General, who said masks are not effective in preventing the general public from catching the coronavirus, and Dr. Mark Ryan, World Health Organization executive director, who was quoted as saying there is no specific evidence suggesting the wearing masks has any “potential benefit.”

This result was predicted yesterday by none other than Mike Johnson, the Shreveport area’s representative in Congress. In a Facebook message Johnson had this to say…

“Although it is a good idea to encourage everyone to wear a mask, I do not believe the mayor has the legal authority to force private citizens to do so. A lawsuit will be filed tomorrow (Friday) challenging the mayor’s overreach, And the plaintiffs should easily prevail. The maintenance of public health is critically important. But so is the defense of the constitution.”

He was right.

Perkins wasn’t. His Facebook message didn’t age all that well…

There have been rumors that lawsuits challenging mask mandates were in the offing in Baton Rouge and in Jefferson Parish, but so far those haven’t come to fruition. We were told that the Jefferson Parish suit disintegrated because Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng’s people got word of the names of potential plaintiffs and placed calls to those business owners, issuing threats of citations for code violations and every other kind of regulatory harassment she could dream up. If that is in fact what happened, it’s the kind of thing the U.S. Justice Department is specifically looking for as a potential civil rights violation they might prosecute on.

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Whether the lawsuit will ultimately bear fruit we don’t know. But it’s good to see the Shreveport plaintiffs at least get a toe-hold into this question, because so far the utter lack of leadership and the refusal to back away from COVID-19 hysteria when it’s clear the virus is not a significant threat to the lives of healthy people has been nothing short of horrifying.

Perkins ought to be made to answer for precisely which lives he thinks he’s saving by imposing a mask mandate. We’d love to hear that answer.

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