People must know their rights in order to stop tyranny, says Bobbie Anne Cox
In what she has called a David versus Goliath battle, New York real estate lawyer Bobbie Anne Cox sued New York Gov. Kathleen Hochul for issuing directives mandating quarantine for people exposed to or infected with highly contagious diseases such as COVID-19. The directives, dubbed “quarantine camp regulations,” have been compared to laws that relocated people of Japanese descent during World War II without due process. Cox won the lawsuit on the grounds that Hochul’s regulation was unconstitutional.
In a recent interview on Epoch TV’s American Thought Leaders, Cox told host Jan Jekielek that it’s crucial that Americans learn about the Constitution so that they can prevent similar acts by state and federal governments.
“The constitution is not perfect, but it’s brilliant,” Cox said.
Schools should require learning about the U.S. Constitution, “from the little kids all the way up through high school into college.”
“The constitution was written to keep the government in check,” she said. “The constitution wasn’t written to keep the people in check.”
Our founding fathers came to this continent fleeing tyranny, according to Cox.
“They wrote the constitution in such a manner that if it’s followed, there wouldn’t be tyranny on these shores, ever,” she said. “Yet here we are, 250 years later, and we’re fighting tyranny.”
It’s tyrannical for a government to take power that it isn’t entitled to, Cox said. During the pandemic, state and federal governments gave themselves powers the constitution didn’t give them.
State governors are part of the executive branch of government.
“They’re supposed to enforce laws, and their agencies beneath them are supposed to help them enforce laws,” she said. “They’re not supposed to make laws.”
When a governor such as Hochul takes on powers that properly belong to the legislature, “that’s tyranny,” Cox reiterated.
“The attitude is kind of like, ‘Well, we know we can’t do this, but we’re going to do it anyway.’ And then the theory is, ‘Catch me if you can,’” she said.
By Jan Jekielek and Masooma Haq