Despite the part of the president's rollback plan that says no state should unlock until it has met various medical criteria, and the fact that no state has so far done that?
Barr calls stay-at-home orders 'disturbingly close to house arrest'
He may attack restrictions as unnecessary or unhelpful, undermining their legitimacy as an exercise of police power.
Or he may use a different avenue of attack, state infringement on federal prerogative under the commerce clause.
Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that the need for strong restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus may be passing and that the Justice Department might consider taking legal action against states that go too far.
"There are very, very burdensome impingements on liberty," he told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, "and we adopted them for the limited purpose of slowing down the spread.
"We didn't adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease.
"We are now seeing that these are bending the curve, and we have to come up with more targeted approaches."
Barr said the restrictions, such as shutting down businesses and requiring people to stay home, are intrusions on civil liberties that may be justified under the broad police powers states have to protect public health.
But he said governors may go too far and interfere with interstate commerce, which is the domain of the federal government.
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