Under the facade of liberty, Nassau County legislators on Monday advanced another measure that will slowly deteriorate any regular citizens’ authority to protest the State.
The lawmakers approved a bill that grants police, first responders and correctional officers the legal authority to sue protestors who “harass, menace or injure” them. The measure, passing mostly on a 12-6 party-line vote, would make police officers a protected class under Nassau’s human rights law, allowing first responders to sue for damages ranging between $25,000 to $50,000.
The newly devised legal protection does not require a criminal charge or conviction to be brought before the court, and first responders can sue within three years of the purported act of discrimination. Violators will also be responsible for paying the court and legal fees “to facilitate the ability of the first responders to exercise their rights.”
“Violence directed at the rule of law and those who uphold it is intended to suppress liberty,” the legislation reads.
“And because organized mob violence undermines the foundations of law, democracy and ordered liberty, and severely imparies the ability of citizens to engage in peaceful protest, such damages are trebled when the first responder is injured in the course of a riot.”
“Violators are also subject to punitive damages as a further deterrence and to injunctive relief to prevent future targeting of law enforcement.”
After a long year of overreach, abuse of power and constitutionally-enshrined authoritarianism, the State’s agents require more legal guarantees that continue to tip the scales of justice against the rights and prerogatives of ordinary people.
We are told that the Federal Government is tasked with checking any state violation of individual rights and liberties — and that state governments check excessive Federal power over the autonomy of the individual. In theory, the constitutional system sets limits on governmental power and defines what is and is not overreach and abuse. But where do people go when both agencies of government decide to pursue their own interests rather than the interests of people? And what can be said of a government that invests more resources in protecting its bureaucratic nobility?
