It would appear that the Governor of Maryland doesn't have a clue as to what the Constitution of the United States actually says or does.
In a press conference Monday, Larry Hogan, the governor of Maryland, compared non-compliance with state-decreed mask mandates with drunk driving and yelling fire in a crowded theater, saying you don't have a right TO NOT WEAR A MASK.
I feel like I need to go full Ben Shapiro on Piers Morgan and pull out my pocket constitution and hand it to Hogan. Apparently, Hogan has been reading a different constitution than the one we've been abiding by for more than two centuries if he thinks Americans don't have the right to not wear a mask.
Last I checked, the Constitution doesn't say anything about masks. It does, however, have quite a bit to say about what powers the government has to impose laws upon the people. Most importantly, they have to be ACTUAL LAWS and not just the whims and edicts of people like Larry Hogan who are in positions of power. Hogan doesn't seem to understand that it is his job to prove that he has the authority to impose a mask mandate. Instead, he believes he can rule the people by fiat.
His comparisons are utter nonsense. He compares the "right to not wear a mask" to driving drunk, not wearing a seatbelt, and shouting fire in a crowded theater. The problem with all of these comparisons is that those laws are actually passed by legislators and approved by courts. The mask mandate is simply a mandate. There's no law stating that people must wear masks because a governor tells them to, or that governors can enforce any of these limitations and restrictions handed straight down from the Executive.
Regardless of whether masks work at slowing the spread of Covid (which is questionable), there's no place in the Constitution that gives governors like Hogan the right to enforce such restrictions.
