Judge Napolitano: It Was Unjust What The Judge Did To “American Hero” Salon Owner

Just after Texas salon owner Shelley Luther was released from jail for violating a judge’s order to close her business dur to the COVID-19 outbreak, Judge Andrew Napolitano hailed Luther as “an American hero” who was treated unjustly by the judge in the case.

“It was so unjust what they did to her. She was not arrested and convicted of violating the Governor’s order because the order doesn’t have the force of law. It’s just a guideline. She was arrested and convicted for violating a judge’s order to comply with the guideline. The Judge has no more authority to put her in jail for failure to comply with his law than he does to enforce the Governor’s guideline. And the Governor recognized that when he changed his executive order to say nobody can go to jail. This is what happens when governors, and I know Greg Abbott and he’s well intended, and he’s not Phil Murphy of New Jersey, or the governor of Michigan. But one governors think they can write law as opposed to the normal, transparent public way that legislatures write laws, they put things in there they regret and they don’t put things in there that they should have. And this is an example of the continuous changing of executive orders by governors in order to accommodate events. There’s another instance in Texas, five guys in a bar, six feet from each other, armed as they’re entitled to. Suddenly, twenty-five members of a SWAT team descend on the bar. You’re going gonna use a SWAT team to arrest people for drinking booze in a bar? That’s not an act of violence.”