Attorney General William Barr warned on Tuesday that the Justice Department could take legal action against governors who continue to enforce restrictions in their states to combat the coronavirus if they “impinge on either civil rights or on national commerce.” In an interview on The Hugh Hewitt Show, Barr said, “We have to give businesses more freedom to operate in a way that’s reasonably safe.” Barr’s comments come amid conservative protests against shelter-in-place orders in several states, which were further emboldened by President Trump’s tweets urging citizens in Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia to demand officials “liberate” their states. Barr said the department wouldn’t hesitate to support lawsuits filed by citizens or businesses in response to certain state directives. “We’re looking carefully at a number of these rules that are being put into place,” he added. “And if we think one goes too far, we initially try to jawbone the governors into rolling them back or adjusting them. And if they’re not and people bring lawsuits, we file statements of interest and side with the plaintiffs.” 

Barr called prevailing shelter-in-place orders across the country “very, very burdensome impingements on liberty,” adding, “We didn’t adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease.”