Tthe North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law has offered its assistance to Gov. Cooper and local governments in rescinding or revising orders unconstitutionally restricting the rights of the people to free speech and to assembly.

We understand the seriousness of the situation, not just in terms of COVID-19 itself but also in terms of how government is violating the constitution during the crisis.

The First Amendment and the North Carolina Constitution protect the peoples right to free speech and to assemble to petition the government for a redress of grievances. These rights may be limited if government has a compelling interest and uses narrowly tailored means to achieve that interest. NCICL recently posted an explanation of the test, called strict scrutiny, used by courts to decide whether this tough burden has been satisfied when a government limits fundamental rights like the right to free speech. That explanation and other resources are available at http://www.ncicl.org.

First Amendment rights arent absolute, but neither is government power. If Gov. Cooper or local governments want help, NCICL is more than willing to help them revise or rescind their orders to ensure that constitutional rights are respected.

Jeanette Doran

President/general counsel

NC Institute for Constitutional Law

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An open letter to Gov. Roy Cooper and local governments across the state - Laurinburg Exchange