Cajun Conservatism
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry hailed Barr for maintaining his calm demeanor as House Democrats repeatedly interrupted him with the argument they were “reclaiming my time.”
“General Barr, like our law enforcement officers battling anarchists in the streets, should be applauded for his civility and restraint in the face of an angry mob,” said Landry, “These Joe Biden voters have no interest in discourse just destruction.”
Read more: State AGs Cheer Administration 'Star' Barr
AG Jeff Landry continues to explain his legal opinion on Gov. Honor Code’s mask mandate and the requirements that basically force Louisiana businesses to become enforcement agencies.
Letter to the Governor"Now, you have placed our job creators in the crosshairs. Your mandates seek to put the burden on them to enforce your new rules. State immunity does not protect our job creators from federal civil rights claims or the myriad of other federal liabilities they may face in executing your edicts. It is simply wrong and beyond your authority." Read the full letter to the Governor: https://bit.ly/3hoaJQO
Posted by Office of the Louisiana Attorney General on Wednesday, July 22, 2020
In anticipation of Senator Bill Cassidy qualifying for re-election later this week, Louisiana Legacy has released a video highlighting the senior senator's six years in the United States Senate, with the help of conservative legislators from all across the state.
Since defeating Mary Landrieu in 2014, Senator Cassidy has quickly become a leader in Washington D.C. on issues like healthcare, energy, and now, combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Senator Cassidy has fought for families and often tackled what he calls "kitchen table issues" -- those that impact everyday, hard working Americans. He partnered with President Trump's daughter and White House Advisor Ivanka Trump to pass the Paid Family Leave Act helping families navigate the crucial first years of a child's life. He has championed mental health awareness and assistance for Veterans; he has fought to bring transparency to medical billing and reduce the cost of prescription drugs. Here in Louisiana, he has worked to protect our coast and safeguard our oil and gas jobs.
Six years is simply not enough. We need Bill for six more!
We need to re-elect US Senator Bill Cassidy for US Senate!
The plaintiffs claim their businesses were devastated by the governor's original state stay-at-home order issued in March. The latest order, they assert, will be even more destructive to their livelihoods and violates their right to peaceful assembly and free expression. It also puts business owners at risk of physical harm, as disputes over mask mandates in other parts of the country have led to violence in some cases.
The order is "unconstitutionally vague, riddled with many exceptions, many of which are subjectively determined," the suit says.
These arguments dovetail closely with — and even cite word for word at times — the opinion offered by Landry last week, who asserted that the legal foundation for the governor's July 11 order was "flimsy" and that it was "vague as to penalties and enforcement."
Read more: Jefferson Parish business owners sue John Bel Edwards over mask mandate, coronavirus restrictions
July 20, 2020
Hon. John Bel Edwards
Post Office Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804
Dear Governor Edwards, I appreciate your deep concern over the official Opinion 20-0068 issued by the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office last week.
Shortly after we – at great cost to our economy and personal freedoms – “flattened the curve,” you surprisingly applauded extraordinarily large groups of people who were gathering in violation of practically every order you had issued to contain the virus – orders which emphasized social distancing.
While you could have applauded people exercising their Constitutional right to the freedom of speech while at the same time chastised attendees for failing to protect people from the spread of the virus, you did only the former and none of the latter.
Now, you seek to further impede the Constitutional freedoms of all Louisianans without any concrete goal or objective based on published metrics.
After seeing your lack of admonition of those violating your guidelines, surely others – especially those in similar age groups – figured that if it was okay to gather in the streets in large numbers without social distancing or other protective measures, surely it was okay to gather in large groups at locations like nightclubs and bars.
In the last few weeks, the spike of virus cases is predominantly in the same age groups we saw take to the streets and then to the nightclubs and bars. Yet, you have taken no responsibility for allowing this to happen or for cheering it on without admonitions. You did not seem greatly concerned about the possibility that these young people might go visit grandma and grandpa at the time.
The concern, under the law, is that you have seemed to pick and choose who receives the brunt of your executive authority. In place of a thoughtful use of your authority, you have decided to punish everyone not marching in the streets or destroying statues.
Now, you have placed our job creators in the crosshairs. Your mandates seek to put the burden on them to enforce your new rules. State immunity does not protect our job creators from federal civil rights claims or the myriad of other federal liabilities they may face in executing your edicts. It is simply wrong and beyond your authority.
Many citizens of Louisiana have reached out to our office with serious concerns over your decision-making on these issues. Their concerns, and my concerns, with your new mandate are not that it attempts to improve the situation we face with COVID-19; rather, it is that it does so in a manner that is destructive to the economy of our State and the livelihood of our citizens.
Thousands of small business people could lose their entire life’s work because of your indiscriminate actions. Had you made more attempts to seek consultation with others, a more rational approach could have been made.
As I have repeatedly stated, you can use a scalpel; but that would require you to take responsibility. I understand you are not interested in that as it is easier for you to turn citizen against citizen and business against customer. As to any perceived change in position, it has to do with where we are today not where we were months ago.
Things have changed. We now know the severity of this disease and how it is nowhere in the ballpark of predictions made in March, not only because of our previous actions but because the scientific data indicates this to be the case.
Like you, I trusted the data and models generated in March. But since then, they have been proven to be wrong on a scale of grand magnitude. Therefore, our response needs to change by the same degree of magnitude. By the same token, your extraordinary powers need to change by the same degree of magnitude.
I noticed in your recent letter that you did not address the issues related to your actual authority and the legal mechanism to enforce it. You also seemed to struggle with the idea that a business, or my government office as you pointed out, could choose to require the use of a mask but that your statewide government fiat is not the same. A mandate is government dictated; office policy is the choice of that private business or management of that office.
A mandate, under an emergency, should have metrics by which to advise the public on whether it has succeeded and when the supposedly temporary mandate would end. That information has not been provided either to me or my representatives who have participated in every UCG meeting which we were invited.
Unlike you, I have faith in the people of Louisiana. I think they are fully capable of making decisions and assuming risks associated with daily life. Driving to work every day is probably the most dangerous thing we do day-in-and-day-out, yet we do it routinely. We have chosen to exercise our right to assume that risk and make our livings.
Three months ago, like the two of us, the people of our State did not know or understand what they were facing. You and I stood together with them to take it on and “flatten the curve.” We did it to provide our health care professionals the ability to prepare for treatment and to establish better protocols.
Now, we must learn how to live with this. We have all been educated; this is no longer a complete unknown.
We know who is vulnerable. I think all citizens should take every measure possible to protect their own health, safety, and lives. I also believe we should give them every opportunity to do so. We should not turn neighbor against neighbor. We should not attempt to turn our job creators into state-run police. And we should be thoughtful and responsible to all, equally. You have not done so under these recent actions.
We can agree on one thing: people should take every measure to protect themselves and those with underlying health conditions should take extra precautions. People should wear masks if they deem them appropriate for the purpose of protecting themselves and others. We should encourage and educate people on their proper use. We should also educate our citizens on things they can do to boost their immune systems and stay healthy.
This virus will not disappear tomorrow, and it will be difficult – if not next to impossible – to eradicate. The American Society for Microbiology has noted that “to date, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared only 2 diseases officially eradicated: smallpox caused by variola virus (VARV) and rinderpest caused by the rinderpest virus (RPV).”
A vaccine will not 100% rid us of this China-originating plague. We need to be working on practical, achievable, and realistic practices that we can perform long-term. You have not been doing so, and that is regrettable because – without realistic and achievable goals – we will continue to be reactionary.
Finally, I must again address your false attacks on my efforts throughout this crisis. You pretend as if I have not been engaged in the process; yet you know full well that either I or a member of my staff has attended, virtually in many cases, every meeting you mentioned. We have been available as a resource if, and when, needed. And we have evaluated meticulously every one of your executive orders.
The Attorney General’s Office has been extraordinarily generous in giving you every benefit of the doubt. Yet, we cannot conclude that you are now within your authority.
I stand by my opinion. You are acting beyond your authority.
For Louisiana,
Jeff Landry
Attorney General
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) understands the concern the administration and members of Congress have with China and its recent actions concerning the coronavirus. But, when the nation is in the middle of an unprecedented public health crisis, it is not the time to impose restrictions on federal agency purchases. The U.S. is already having shortages with medical supplies like face masks and medical gloves without compounding the problem by imposing strict “Buy American” mandates on manufacturers.
Read more: Now is Not the Time to Disrupt Medical Supply Chains with Buy American Policies
Attorney General Jeff Landry recently was a guest on Fox News concerning his challenge to the mask mandate issued in Louisiana by our benevolent dictator, I mean Governor, John Bel Edwards. The video, with host Shannon Bream, can be found below.
Photo source: Twitter
Today, Louisiana Attorney General, Jeff Landry, issued an opinion on the “mask mandate” and closing of establishments in the state of Louisiana in response to COVID-19. Needless to say, it highlights the unconstitutionality of these mandates, calling into question the mandate’s requirements forcing businesses to become enforcement agents, questioning the “50 person limit” and singling out one type of establishment for closure, as in bars.
In essence, John Bel Edwards is not king of this state, no matter what he may think.
The opinion can be found here: AG Landry Opinion
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry sent out the below tweet yesterday regarding the mask mandate issued by our benevolent dictator, er, “Governor”, Honor Code Edwards. Landry stressed the importance of the Louisiana legislature using their muscle as a coequal branch of government and issue oversight on Honor Code’s draconian measures he’s resorted to in response to COVID-19.
With @LouisianaGov closing more businesses, @LouisianaHouse and @LaSenateGOP should call themselves into session so they can appropriate some of the $500 million in federal aid sitting in state treasury to the job creators and their employees affected by @JohnBelEdwards closures
— Jeff Landry (@JeffLandry) July 13, 2020
Liberty minded citizens of this state need to contact each one of their legislators and demand action. Sitting on hands is not the proper response to our liberties being trampled on, no matter how minimal people may feel this issue really is.
Saw this from a post on Facebook and thought it was appropriate for what is taking place after “Honor Code”, in his infinite wisdom, continues to crap all over the State of Louisiana.
Imagine a virus so deadly that you make new regulations, but they don’t go into effect until Monday. (It’s currently Sunday)
Imagine a virus so deadly, that people with BREATHING issues are exempt from wearing masks.
Imagine a virus so deadly that kids under age 7 can’t spread it & don’t have to follow the new rule.
Imagine a virus so deadly that 3 whole parishes can opt out of following the mandate.
Imagine being a clown & believing this BS
Baton Rouge, LA – Today, Louisiana Republicans united to renominate President Donald J. Trump as the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States. The President's overwhelming primary victory showcases his hugely successful first term, and Louisiana is still Trump Country! Our Republican voters have not lost their enthusiasm for the President and are ready to get started on his re-election this November.
"A deep bond developed between President Trump and the people of Louisiana during his first term," commented LAGOP Chairman Louis Gurvich. "President Trump kept his promises to the American people, and now we are uniting behind our President to Keep America Great. Tonight, Louisiana's voters made clear their eagerness to re-elect their President on November 3rd."
As a result of tonight's victory in the presidential primary, all forty-six of the LAGOP's delegates to the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville will be bound to vote to renominate President Trump.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is urging the state's top school board to avoid mandating the use of face masks by students and teachers when schools reopen next month.
"We believe that mandating students to wear masks creates a situation that may cross the line on liberty, and also may become a tremendous distraction with enforcement," Landry said in his letter, which is dated July 9.
Read more: Don't force students and teachers to wear masks in school, AG Jeff Landry
The Democratic Party was founded by slave owners. These slave owners insisted upon a constitution which preserved slavery. The Democratic Party opposed Republican efforts to end slavery. The Democratic Party opposed Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. After the Civil War, Democrats opposed Republican efforts to give newly freed slaves voting rights and civil rights. In more recent times, Democratic members of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives fought Civil Rights legislation, beginning with Republican President Dwight Eisenhower’s Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Democratic governors fought integration of schools and public services, and the list goes on. It took courageous decisions by Republican judges and the enforcement of these laws by President Eisenhower who at one point called out the military to overcome resistance.
Two Democratic luminaries, Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black and long serving Senator Robert Byrd, were members of the KKK as young men.
Read more: Exclusive — Sen. Bill Cassidy: The Democratic Party Should Change Its Name Due to Its Racist Past
Congressman Mike Johnson said a lawsuit will be filed on Friday against the City of Shreveport over its recent mask mandate.
The congressman said in a post on Facebook Thursday that, while he thinks it’s a good idea to encourage people to wear a mask, he doesn't believe the city has the authority to force people to do so.
Read more: Rep. Johnson: Lawsuit to be filed Friday to challenge Shreveport mayor's mask mandate
For over 25 years, Republicans and Democrats alike griped about the North American Free Trade Agreement. Because of its weak, voluntary labor and environmental “rules,” NAFTA cost America millions of jobs and devastated working-class communities.
President Trump was one of NAFTA’s earliest critics as far back as the 1990s. Like former President Obama, candidate Trump promised to renegotiate NAFTA if he was elected. Unlike President Obama, Donald Trump kept that promise after taking office.
As of today, NAFTA is gone—replaced by the far stronger United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, or USMCA.
🎬 Flashback: “We’re finally ending the NAFTA nightmare”
The USMCA is a complete overhaul of North American trade, with modern, rebalanced rules for business and investment. The International Trade Commission predicts that the USMCA will create up to 589,000 new American jobs and have the most positive impact on U.S. jobs and wages of any trade agreement that the Commission has ever reviewed.
The new agreement is also a major bipartisan victory, incorporating ideas from both Democrats and Republicans to get the best deal possible for America’s workers.
“The strong and overwhelming support the USMCA received from both parties in Congress—as well as from labor unions, business organizations, and champions of agriculture—shows just how much this trade agreement will benefit all Americans,” President Trump said in a statement today.
🎬 Secretary Perdue: USMCA changes things by leveling the playing field
Starting today, the USMCA will begin addressing longstanding trade imbalances across American industries. For example, in the automotive sector alone:
75 percent of qualifying vehicles must now be genuinely produced in North America, reducing the motive to outsource parts to low-cost countries
40-45 percent of a vehicle must be built by workers making an average of at least $16 an hour, preserving more jobs for American workers
$34 billion in new automotive manufacturing investments are expected in the United States over the next 5 years
That’s just one industry. USMCA is leveling the playing field for American farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and businesses all across our economy, too.
The United States has the best labor force of any country on Earth. Our workers don’t ask for much—only the opportunity to compete fairly for good jobs at honest wages. With NAFTA in the rearview mirror, a new era in American trade begins today.
“I keep my promises,” President Trump says.
See President Trump’s statement on the end of NAFTA.
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling on abortion threatens the value of all human life.
Baton Rouge, LA – The Republican Party of Louisiana is very disappointed by today’s U. S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Louisiana’s abortion law. As Attorney General Jeff Landry has already stated, this is a tragic decision that only advances the cause of devaluing human life.
As pro-life conservatives, we believe that every single human life is equally valuable. When any society routinely condones practices that devalue human life, this only leads to further systemic injustice. For-profit abortion is one of the worst injustices plaguing modern American society. The practice unduly targets disadvantaged and other vulnerable groups and perpetuates a myth that some lives are more valuable than others. Rather than liberating women, abortion has allowed for the development of new forms of female oppression. Far from being a humane practice, abortion is a barbaric one which has no place in a just society.
“The Louisiana abortion law which was struck down earlier today had sought to make for-profit abortion groups more responsible for the safety and welfare of their patients,” said LAGOP Chairman Louis Gurvich. “That our nation’s highest court found such legislation to be unconstitutional is a sad testament to the state of our country. We will not stop working until this injustice is no more.”
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June 29, 2020
WASHINGTON– Today, the Supreme Court of the United States announced its decision in an abortion case out of Louisiana, June Medical Services v. Russo. The Court ruled 5 to 4 to strike down the Louisiana law that requires abortion doctors to have hospital admitting privileges. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee for Pro-Life Activities issued the following statement:
“Abortion violently ends the life of a child, and often severely harms women. Abortion becomes even more destructive when basic health and safety standards are ignored, and profit margins are prioritized over women’s lives. As Catholics, we condemn abortion as a grave injustice that denies the fundamental human right to life. Yet even as we seek to end the brutality of legalized abortion, we still believe that the women who seek it should not be further harmed and abused by a callous, profit-driven industry.
“The Court’s failure to recognize the legitimacy of laws prioritizing women’s health and safety over abortion business interests continues a cruel precedent. As we grieve this decision and the pregnant women who will be harmed by it, we continue to pray and fight for justice for mothers and children.
“We will not rest until the day when the Supreme Court corrects the grave injustice of Roe and Casey and recognizes the Constitutional right to life for unborn human beings. And we continue to ask all people of faith to pray for women seeking abortion, often under enormous pressure, that they will find alternatives that truly value them and the lives of their children.”
The USCCB filed an amicus curae brief in the case along with the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Association of Evangelicals urging the Court to uphold the law. The brief can be viewed here: http://www.usccb.org/about/general-counsel/amicus-briefs/upload/18-1323-USCCB-amicus-June-Med-v-Gee-12-30-2019.pdf
TODAY, THE SUPREME COURT CONTINUED ITS HEARTBREAKING LINE OF DECISIONS THAT PLACES ‘ACCESS’ TO ABORTION ABOVE THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF WOMEN AND GIRLS.
By putting precedent over patients, Justice Roberts gave his vote to a decision that ignored the overwhelming bipartisan support of Act 620 and the extensive record of Louisiana abortion providers’ history of medical malpractice, disciplinary actions, and violations of health and safety standards.
It is deeply disappointing that the Chief Justice continues a pattern of inconsistent and groundless decisions. In his misguided effort to convince the public that the Supreme Court is not political, Justice Roberts shows how political it actually is. Just four years ago, he joined the dissenters in Hellerstedt, which struck down Texas’s law; today, the Chief Justice openly acknowledges that case was wrong but then applies it anyway. He picks and choses from a stare decisis “buffet” to avoid admitting his Court is fallible. This is not justice – this is judge-made law at its worst.
Continuing to perpetuate judge-made rules that have no constitutional basis is bad for our country. It is this egregiously wrong practice that maintained decisions like Plessy, Dred Scott, and Korematsu for so long. And it reveals how far removed the Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence has become from the rules that apply to all other litigants. We are past due for a course correction.
When laws are passed with nearly unanimous bipartisan support by the elected representatives of a state and with undisputed proof of dangerous conditions and substandard abortion providers, but they cannot survive judicial review – something is drastically wrong with the Court’s case law on this subject.
I will continue to pray for all women and girls who will be exposed to the incompetent abortionists that put profits over people; and I will keep doing all that I legally can to protect the unborn, their mothers, and all Louisiana women.”
Jeff Landry
Attorney General - State of Louisiana
The United States Supreme Court has ruled, 5-to-4, against the Louisiana law in June Medical Services v. Russo. This case was about state lawmakers instituting basic health and safety laws to protect women. The question was whether abortionists can bully their way out of following the rules that apply to everyone else.
I am disappointed once again in the liberals on the U.S. Supreme Court and their newest ally, Chief Justice John Roberts, who decided against women and invalidated Louisiana’s admitting privileges law. The Court was wrong in failing to recognize the right of states to ensure access to quality emergency medical care.
Still, we are very proud of Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, Solicitor General, Liz Murrill, and former Representative/current Senator Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe), who authored the 2014 legislation that received broad bipartisan support. It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court failed to recognize the sovereign rights of states to govern in a manner which protects women’s safety. Apparently, the U.S. Supreme Court has another agenda and will continue to retain the unconstitutional and illegitimate Roe v. Wade decision. Protecting the unborn child’s right to life is the greatest human rights issue of our time. We must stand firm in the fight.
Louisiana enacted this law to protect women from the abortion businesses and their history of dirty and dangerous abortions by requiring abortion doctors—like doctors at all Louisiana free standing clinics – to be able to admit and treat their patients at nearby hospitals if the need arises. This ensures that doctors performing abortions will be competent and provide continuity of care to their patients.
This decision sends a dangerous message to states, which have the duty to prioritize women’s health and safety over abortion business interests. All states—including Louisiana—have a valid interest in regulating abortion and a duty to protect the health and safety of women. Today’s dangerous and medically substandard abortion clinics harm women. Louisiana abortion providers went to extraordinary lengths to erase a law that promotes the wellbeing of women. The Supreme Court should have put an end to this.
Abortion doctors regularly place profits over patients. The Court failed to recognize that when abortion providers seek to overturn health and safety laws enacted to protect women, they are not operating in women’s best interests. The Court missed a chance to end this conflict of interest that rewards abortion businesses at the expense of women.
Please remain in prayer for our nation -- that our Court will soon see the evil of abortion and abandon the untenable position of defending those who take innocent lives.
In His Service,
Gene Mills
President
Louisiana Family Forum
There is much news to report since our last meeting in February. Still, I’d like to open this newsletter by wishing everyone well and letting you know how much I’ve missed the RSCC meetings, the leadership lunches, the RPEC and LFRW meetings, the fundraisers, and most of all the friendship and camaraderie with our members. Surprisingly, the last three months have been the busiest of my chairmanship, but after reading this newsletter, perhaps you’ll understand why. So let’s get started:
Despite three months of lock-down and quarantine, July will shortly arrive to find the American people still beset by a pandemic, economic dislocation, nationwide protests and riots, and rising international threats. Moreover, the opening salvoes are being fired in what promises to be the most contentious and divisive presidential campaign in recent American history, significantly adding to our existing national malaise.
While the past ninety days have certainly challenged us in unique ways, even the most cursory examination of American history reveals that our nation has seen worse, in fact, far worse. Still, as a people, we have always overcome these difficulties and prevailed in the end. Now that is not to say that we will always and inevitably conquer every adversity; our successes have never been automatic. But I do believe that the innate self-confidence, hard work ethic, and love of country which the majority of our citizens still possess, will see us through the present crises.
But politics at the national level is a battle involving tens of millions of people working together to achieve a common goal. Our ultimate victory in this fight depends on the success of the one American political party with a noble and untarnished history, grounded in the ideals of liberty and justice, and possessing the organizational strength necessary to defeat Marxism and anarchism. That party is, of course, the Republican Party, founded in 1854 with the specific goal of ending slavery in America. Never forget that fact, and be proud of who we are.
So the responsibility for leading the country out of the present political, moral, and economic chaos must necessarily fall on us as Republicans- there is no other organization with the means or even the political will to do so. That other major national political party is so mired in self-doubt and moral contradictions of its own making as to be not only incapable of healing the country but mostly responsible for dividing it in the first place!
Our victory in 2020 is not about a few hundred judgeships or even a trillion dollars in the national budget going here instead of there, but rather the survival of the core foundational beliefs upon which our country was founded and upon which our national strength and economic prosperity are based. The issues before us are genuinely momentous, the political battle lines are drawn, and it is our duty as activists to carry our banner proudly and lead the charge!
Louis Gurvich, Chairman
Republican Party of Louisiana
