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May 6, 2020

Texas created a Wuhan virus martyr by imprisoning Shelley Luther

By Andrea Widburg

On Tuesday, Texas may have created the anti-lockdown movement’s first martyr when a Dallas judge sentenced hairstylist Shelley Luther to a week in prison for the crime of trying to provide for her own and her employee’s families.

Texas is home to 28,995,881 people. It’s had 32,879 diagnosed Wuhan virus cases (that is, 0.11% of the population got diagnosed) and 890 virus deaths (0.003% of the population). Most of the cases are linked to nursing homes or people with co-morbidities. Even in nursing homes, though, things needn't be so dire. One doctor’s experiment shows that early intervention with the hydroxychloroquine cocktail can result in a 92% successful treatment rate.

Both the state of Texas and the county of Dallas declared hair stylists non-essential. The government – which is dependent on people’s taxes -- ignored that for most people bringing a paycheck home is essential. Meanwhile, by April 15, Dallas had released 1,000 prisoners from the county jail. Because there were Wuhan virus cases among the prison population, some of the released prisoners probably brought the virus to the general population.

After more than a month of being closed down, Shelley Luther, a Dallas hairstylist, reopened her salon. Dallas county sent her a cease and desist letter, which she publicly destroyed. Luther was then hauled into court to answer for her crimes. The judge, after demanding an apology from Luther, which she refused to give, sentenced  her to a week in jail, plus a large fine:

A Dallas salon owner who has continued offering services despite a citation, a cease-and-desist letter and a restraining order was sentenced Tuesday to seven days in jail.

In Tuesday afternoon’s hearing, Dallas Civil District Judge Eric Moyé also ordered her to pay thousands in fines for refusing to shut down her salon in violation of shelter-in-place orders.

The judge, it should be noted, continues to work and draw a paycheck -- as does every government employee in America.

Luther’s refusal to bow down may be the speech Americans need right now. In its way, it’s as powerful as “Give me liberty or give me death!”

Shortly after Luther’s sentencing, Governor Abbott lifted the shutdown rule imposed against several businesses, including hairstylists:

For Luther, Abbott’s order was a case of too little, too late.

As of this writing, a GoFundMe for Shelley Luther has raised $99,641 of a $100,000 goal. The money was going to legal fees, her mortgage, and rent. Now it will help with her fine, too.

There’s good reason to believe that Luther did not commit a crime. According to American Jurisprudence, a legal encyclopedia, unconstitutional official acts are void:

The general misconception is that any statute passed by legislators bearing the appearance of law constitutes the law of the land. The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and any statute, to be valid, must be In agreement. It is impossible for both the Constitution and a law violating it to be valid; one must prevail. This is succinctly stated as follows:

The General rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it. An unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed. Such a statute leaves the question that it purports to settle just as it would be had the statute not been enacted.

Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principles follow that it imposes no duties, confers no rights, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection, and justifies no acts performed under it.....

A void act cannot be legally consistent with a valid one. An unconstitutional law cannot operate to supersede any existing valid law. Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the lend, it is superseded thereby.

No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.

Luther’s martyrdom upset a lot of people. These tweets are representative:

America's various governing entities might want to remember that our last revolution began when the British pushed the middle class too far.

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