“That’s above my pay grade,” says an amiable Phil Murphy. Er, it is not, my man. That’s exactly your pay grade as chief executive.

Granted, he’s not a lawyer by trade, but he has a phalanx of lawyers at his disposal with whom he could have and should have consulted on this subject. How does a liberal go on Fox News in the middle of a pandemic, knowing he’s going to get grilled, and belch up an aw-shucks “I dunno” answer to a question about the First Amendment? Good lord.