Open the Northern East Coast Region!

WE THE CITIZENS AND RESIDENTS OF THE STATES OF CONNECTICUT, RHODE ISLAND, NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY, DELAWARE, AND OF THE COMMONWEALTHS OF MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA, mindful of our status as a free and sovereign people, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights as recorded in the Declaration of Independence of the United States and the United States Constitution, and granted additional protections under the laws of our nation and our individual states and territories, and perceiving clearly the present onslaught of tyranny disguised as protection being daily thrust upon us, do hereby declare and attest that:

The threat of bodily harm and death caused by the coronavirus known as COVID-19 has been at times exaggerated by public health authorities and the Governors of these States and Commonwealths (hereinafter collectively, “The States”), who have used inaccurate and manipulated data to induce fear and panic in their respective populaces, without any objective criteria to establish that a public health emergency indeed exists in the particular localities and jurisdictions wherein the unconstitutional Executive Orders detailed below--and others--have been issued and remain in effect;

The States have failed to take sufficient measures to ensure that first responders and health care workers have access to adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), furthering the severity and elongating the duration of the pandemic;

The States have infringed on the rights of The People to freely assemble, in violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution;

The States have infringed on the rights of the people to freely exercise their religions, in violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution;

The States have infringed on the rights of The People to freely travel within and without The States, in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment and the Privileges and Immunities Clause found at Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution;

The States have shuttered businesses in an erratic and illogical manner, such that certain businesses have been arbitrarily deemed essential, whereas others have been arbitrarily deemed nonessential, causing substantial loss of income and unnecessary emotional distress to the owners, proprietors, shareholders, managers, employees, and the families of such;

The unlawful closings of our businesses constitutes a violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, as it is an illegal taking of property without just compensation;

The unlawful closings of our businesses constitutes a violation of the Contracts Clause found at Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution, as the Executive Orders demanding such function as laws which impair the right of the people to enter into private contracts and fulfill their obligations;

The unlawful closing of our businesses constitutes a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, as it is an illegal seizure of a property right without due process of law;

The efforts to implement contact tracing to track the health status and movement of persons is an abhorrent abuse of power; is an unreasonable search in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, and per the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Carpenter v. United States, 138 S. Ct. 2206 (2018), which found that the government’s seizure of cell-site location data from wireless carriers without a warrant was an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment; constitutes a violation of the right to bodily autonomy and privacy contained in the United States Constitution and recognized by the United States Supreme Court in numerous decisions such as Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965) and Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973); and violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution as well as various federal and state antidiscrimination laws, as it grants to certain persons greater rights and privileges than to others, denying many the equal protection of the laws;

The imposition of mandates to wear masks in public places is also a violation of bodily autonomy and the privacy rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and recognized by the United States Supreme Court, as described above;

The States have ignored the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11, 38-39 (1905), which, while establishing a State’s right to exercise its police power to protect the public health, also clearly and sternly admonished States that would seek to abuse this power to usurp the Constitutional Rights of The People:

Before closing this opinion we deem it appropriate, in order to prevent misapprehension as to our views, to observe -- perhaps to repeat a thought already sufficiently expressed, namely -- that the police power of a State, whether exercised by the legislature, or by a local body acting under its authority, may be exerted in such circumstances or by regulations so arbitrary and oppressive in particular cases as to justify the interference of the courts to prevent wrong and oppression. Extreme cases can be readily suggested. Ordinarily such cases are not safe guides in the administration of the law. It is easy, for instance, to suppose the case of an adult who is embraced by the mere words of the act, but yet to subject whom to vaccination in a particular condition of his health or body, would be cruel and inhuman in the last degree. We are not to be understood as holding that the statute was intended to be applied to such a case, or, if it was so intended, that the judiciary would not be competent to interfere and protect the health and life of the individual concerned. "All laws," this court has said, "should receive a sensible construction. General terms should be so limited in their application as not to lead to injustice, oppression or absurd consequence. It will always, therefore, be presumed that the legislature intended exceptions to its language which would avoid results of that character. The reason of the law in such cases should prevail over its letter." United States v. Kirby, 7 Wall. 482; Lau Ow Bew v. United States, 144 U.S. 47, 58.

WHEREFORE, the undersigned demand that The States, being now clearly placed on notice of their illegal conduct as detailed above, immediately and without exception or condition rescind all Executive Orders which implement the aforementioned impositions and restrictions, as well as all others not described herein which in any way interfere with the right of The People to freely assemble, freely worship and otherwise exercise their religions, engage in intrastate and interstate travel without encumbrances, enter into and fulfill contracts, conduct business, and maintain privacy over their property and their persons. While we support recommendations, even strongly-worded ones, from local government officials that advise the public based on concrete evidence and facts, we in no way--and under no circumstances--support any dictates which have the effect of abridging our constitutional rights, however marginally or substantially. Advisements regarding public health are always appropriate; legislation and constitutional amendments by executive order must be always forbidden.

Signed,

The people of:

CONNECTICUT
MASSACHUSETTS
RHODE ISLAND
NEW YORK
NEW JERSEY
PENNSYLVANIA
DELAWARE