Crenshaw calls out 'so-called' judges enforcing senseless laws: 'They are drunk on power'
'So-called judges, leaders need to take a civics lesson,' says Congressman Dan Crenshaw discussing citizens being called for breaking laws that 'don't make sense'
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Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, called out “so-called” judges for enforcing what he said were senseless laws, arguing that “they think we’re stupid and they’re drunk on power.”
“This is why you’re seeing people rise up,” Crenshaw said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday, reacting to Tuesday’s jailing of a hair salon owner in his state for defying a coronavirus shutdown order.
“Americans are sick of it. They have a sense of injustice. They have a sense that these so-called leaders, these so-called judges, they have a sense that they’re not actually implementing the law because these aren't laws, these are executive orders.
“They have a sense that they’re not really implementing justice as we understand it as culture and as a society,” he continued. “We know that they’re doing the wrong thing and we have to call them out for it.”
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At a hearing, Judge Eric Moye called Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther’s action of opening her salon “selfish,” and claimed she had “disrespected the orders of the state, the county and this city,” Fox 4 of Dallas-Fort Worth reported.
Luther claimed she had to reopen her business because a federal loan had arrived too late to help her, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The judge said Luther could avoid jail if she would apologize, pay a fine, and remain shut down until a statewide reopening of salons takes effect Friday. But Luther opted for jail instead.
“These so-called leaders, these so-called judges, they need to take a civics lesson,” Crenshaw responded, adding that such "laws will not be respected if they are not respectable.
“People are not dumb, they can understand, and they can assess whether a law makes sense, whether it’s really based on data and public health and a lot of these things aren't,” he continued.
Crenshaw then argued that leaders and judges “go further" by using the full force of law -- including arrest-- as a penalty for "engaging in an activity that was previously perfectly legal."
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“Engaging in a voluntary transaction with another human being has long been a legal and perfectly OK activity and to all of a sudden make it illegal and then use the full force of the law to enforce it, that goes against our very basic values," he concluded.
Fox News’ Dom Calicchio and Nick Givas contributed to this report.
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