Police in Raleigh, North Carolina, have done themselves no favors by enforcing a clearly, unquestionably unconstitutional order. Here are a couple of excerpts from a Twitter thread discussing the matter.
There's also the small matter of the Constitution of the State of North Carolina: Article I (Declaration of Rights), Sections 5 and 7. Italics are my emphasis.
Sec. 5. Allegiance to the United States.
Every citizen of this State owes paramount allegiance to the Constitution and government of the United States, and no law or ordinance of the State in contravention or subversion thereof can have any binding force.
Sec. 7. Suspending laws.
All power of suspending laws or the execution of laws by any authority, without the consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights and shall not be exercised.
In other words, according to North Carolina's own Constitution, that State's governor had no authority to ban public protests, because such protests (i.e. the right to "peaceably assemble") are themselves protected by the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States. What's more, there was no consent given to, and no prior authorization of, his order by "the representatives of the people".
That makes the actions of the Raleigh Police Department prima facie illegal and unconstitutional. Raleigh PD, what happened to "protect and serve"? You're protecting the bejeesus out of an illegal order!!! In doing so, you're ignoring the Constitutional rights of your own citizens!
When I took the Federal law enforcement oath of office, I solemnly swore:
... that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
There was (and is) no expiration date on that oath. It binds me still. Did members of the Raleigh Police Department swear a similar oath, or make a similar promise? If so, congratulations, officers. You are now forsworn.
The same insanity is visible in Michigan, and California, and every other state where jackbooted thugs (in the guise of politicians and bureaucrats) are requiring their law enforcement agencies and officers to impose and enforce blatantly unconstitutional (and therefore illegal) orders.
The question is, what will happen to citizens who stand up for their Constitutional rights, and refuse to allow anyone to ride rough-shod over them? I certainly will, if push comes to shove; and I will not allow officers to treat me as a criminal when it is, in fact, their enforcement of unconstitutional orders and ordinances that is clearly and prima facie illegal. Do I expect officers to acknowledge that, and back down? I hope some will, but I'm sure many won't - because for many of them (clearly including Raleigh PD), to judge by their uncomplaining acceptance of such edicts, the Constitution is so much toilet paper.
That's what comes of ignoring and/or minimizing the importance of civics and US history in their education, both as children and as police candidates. In particular, they've clearly never heard of Marbury v. Madison, where the Supreme Court of the United States ruled:
Certainly all those who have framed written constitutions contemplate them as forming the fundamental and paramount law of the nation, and consequently the theory of every such government must be, that an act of the legislature, repugnant to the constitution, is void.
. . .
Thus, the particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written Constitutions, that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void, and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.
Marbury v. Madison therefore elevates the US Constitution, and that of North Carolina as well, over any edict by the Governor of that state, as well as any law passed by its legislature. Would someone kindly inform Raleigh PD of that little fact?
Peter
