Rule #1 for pandemics and national emergencies: The rules don’t apply to the elites.
Case in point, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg continues to work out with her personal trainer at the Supreme Court fitness center, even though D.C. is on lockdown as a result of the Chinese coronavirus.
On March 24, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered the closure of all non-essential businesses:
The intent of the Order is to temporarily cease all non-essential business activities, including tour guides and touring services; gyms, health clubs, spas, and massage establishments; theaters, auditoriums, and other places of large gatherings; nightclubs; hair, nail, and tanning salons and barbershops; tattoo parlors; sales not involved in essential services; retail clothing stores; and professional services not devoted to assisting essential business operations.
But those rules apparently don’t apply to 87-year-old Ginsburg, who, with multiple bouts of cancer in recent years, is in the highest of high-risk groups. Bryant Johnson, her trainer, told Law360 that Ginsburg is not about to let something like an order from the mayor or the prospect of spreading or contracting Wuhan flu get in the way of her twice-weekly training sessions.
“Everybody’s been shut down. The only reason why I didn’t shut the justice down is because, hey, she ain’t having it,” said Johnson. “She has that grandfather status to me and if she wants to train, that‘s the least that I can do.”
I ain’t having it, either, but I’m still stuck at home doing CrossFit via Zoom because, unlike Ginsburg, the rules apply to me and to the small-business owners who run the gym where I work out.
“Her choice is, she doesn’t make excuses not to do it,” Johnson said. “So we find ways to do it.”
Ginsburg has apparently gotten a special dispensation from someone to maintain her fitness routine at the SCOTUS gym. She actually gets a “choice” in this matter, while poor schmucks like us are basically on house arrest, minus the ankle bracelet (for now).
Meanwhile, cities are locking up pastors who are holding church services and people of faith who want to pray outside abortion clinics.
Johnson assures us that they’re taking precautions, wiping down the equipment when they’re done and washing their hands. He explained: “All I have to do is set it up and she just automatically knows exactly what I want to do. It doesn’t require me to grab her, hold her, get up close and personal.” (That got super-awkward fast.)
“I don’t know anybody who doesn’t feel better after a workout is completed and that includes the justice,” Johnson told Law360. “No matter what, we try to get it in twice a week,” added Johnson.
Yeah, I feel better getting to the gym twice a week too, but I’m just one of the unwashed masses out here in flyover country, so I have to do my workouts at home using milk jugs instead of weights.
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