OK, that's IT. I'm done. All the people whining about #rights & #freedom & #liberty & how the stay-at-home orders & other restrictions are #Unconstitutional, gather 'round because your friendly, neighborhood Constitutional law professor is going to give a lesson today. (1/25)

First off, your #rights & #freedom are not unfettered. They have limits under the #Constitution. Always have. Always will. Your rights/freedom don't get to infringe on the rights of others or damage the public health. Period. That's not how the Constitution works. (2/25)

So, let's start at the beginning. You have not lost any of your #rights due to these orders. Not even a little bit. None of them are #Unconstitutional. They are, at worst, a temporary inconvenience. (3/25)

1st argument you’re going to make is that people are losing their jobs & businesses. Yes, that’s true & it is terrible. And I really feel for everyone that’s happening to (It happened to me, too!). There are no easy or good answers to the problems we’re currently facing. (4/25)

But, we’re focused on the #Constitution here and, since your complaint is based on the Constitution, you should know that you don’t have a right to own a business or have a job. You have never had that right. It is not in the #Constitution. I’m sorry. (5/25)

2nd argument: “They can’t make me wear a mask!” Like the business thing, you have no right to be mask-free. State governments, under the 10th amendment, have police powers to protect the public health. They can order you to wear a mask, stay at home, or get a vaccination. (6/25)

Yes! That’s right! SCOTUS has upheld the authority of the states to enforce compulsory vaccination laws in order to protect public health. Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905). It's still good law & is based on sound reasoning. Wearing a mask is small potatoes. (7/25)

These restrictions aren’t even as severe as #Constitutional public health restrictions have been in the past. The most restrictive stay-at-home orders still allow you to go to the store for essentials like groceries and medicines, and still allow you to go out for a walk (8/25)

Back in the day, when people were placed under quarantine, they were confined to their homes 24/7 period. Full stop. End of sentence. (And, back then, they didn't have television & the internet.) None of that was #Unconstitutional then and it wouldn’t be now. (9/25)

Aren’t we lucky that the state governments during this pandemic haven’t done more than temporarily inconvenience us? (10/25)

But, you’re still not convinced. I can tell. You’re going to bring up your 3rd point: freedom of assembly. Except freedom of assembly is not about the right to gather together in close proximity. It’s about your right to join whatever group you like. (11/25)

No one is stopping you from obtaining membership in whatever group catches your fancy. You want to get a membership to the “COVID-19 is super neat” club? The gov't can’t stop you. They can, however, place restrictions on your right to gather w/that group or any other. (12/25)

SCOTUS has long upheld regulations that limit the time, place, or manner in which gatherings take place, so long as they are within a certain, well-defined framework. These regulations are within a well-defined framework. (13/25)

You could go on and try to list other rights that are being infringed, but I’m going to stop you right there. The thing is, it’s perfectly #Constitutional for the government to infringe on your rights. Yep. You heard me. Take a breath and let me explain... (14/25)

We live in a society. If everything were about personal rights w/no limits, it would be chaos. So, the govt places limits on people so that we can continue to live in non-chaos together. For example, you do not have the personal liberty to murder me or steal my stuff. (15/25)

Those are limits the government places on your personal liberty for the good of society. But, there are rules. The government also has limits on how much it can limit your personal liberty. Pay attention here. This is important. (16/25)

The gov't can infringe on your #rights for the good of society, but they can only go so far. How much they infringe on your rights only changes the level of scrutiny the Court applies to those regulations/laws. (17/25)

If the govt action will fully deprive you of a "fundamental right", they need to have a “compelling reason” to do so & their actions need to be “narrowly tailored” to prevent the harm they're trying to prevent (we're getting deep into #Constitutional law here; bear w/me) (18/25)

Public health and safety (which includes preventing the spread of highly infectious diseases) has been upheld as a compelling government interest that can override fundamental rights, *including the free exercise of religious beliefs.* (19/25)

Stay-at-home orders are narrowly tailored. You can still go out for a walk & go stores for essentials & get food delivered & go for a drive & have car parades outside the houses of people celebrating birthdays/graduations/anniversaries/weddings. (20/25)

All they do is close non-essential businesses that put lots of people in a confined space, which is where the virus spreads most readily. (21/25)

And, should the government include the wearing of masks in their orders, that, also, is narrowly tailored to prevent the spread of the virus, since the virus is known to spread on respiratory droplets. (22/25)

So, those of you who are saying #ConstitutionOverCoronavirus have got this wrong. You are not whining about your #PersonalFreedom or #rights or #liberty or even the #Constitution. Because everything we’re all going through is perfectly Constitutional. (23/25)

Stop cloaking your complaints in the Constitution. This is about your convenience. You don’t like being inconvenienced. Guess what? NO ONE DOES. But, this is what we do when we're part of a society. We live w/inconveniences so we don’t harm others. (24/25)

The #Constitution doesn't protect your right to indirectly kill people in the name of the economy/owning a business. The Constitution doesn't give you the #freedom to commit negligent homicide b/c you want a haircut, or a meal in a restaurant, or to not wear a mask. (25/25)

Questions are welcome. Insults/assholery are not.