TV pastor Jim Bakker has a lawyer — Jay Nixon — for unproven Covid-19 treatment case
Former Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is taking up the legal defense for Ozarks televangelist Jim Bakker, who regulators and law enforcement want to quit pushing an unproven product as a means for treating the novel coronavirus.
Nixon’s defense of Bakker? Stepping in the way of Bakker telling his audiences that the “Silver Solution” supplement can treat coronavirus infringes on his religious freedom.
Bakker, who was convicted in the late 1980s and served time in prison for fraud, has through his website and guests on his television show suggested that products containing silver can treat or cure COVID-19, the novel coronavirus responsible for the worldwide pandemic for which there is no vaccine.
Those claims attracted the attention of the New York attorney general and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in February and March. Both warned Bakker to stop promoting Silver Solution as a potential remedy or treatment of COVID-19.
In March, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued Bakker and his Morningside Church Productions for misrepresenting “Silver Solution” as a COVID-19 treatment. Schmitt’s lawsuit alleged violations of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.
Nixon, a partner for St. Louis law firm Dowd Bennett, along with attorneys from the Kansas City law firm Spencer Fane, claim in court filings that Schmitt’s lawsuit infringes on Bakker’s free speech and religious rights.
Bakker’s attorneys say the Merchandising Practices Act filing “prohibits and penalizes the biblical practice and expression of Christianity and the religious solicitation of funds by a pastor to support a church’s ministry.”
Bakker’s attorneys go on to say that Bakker’s religious beliefs include educating his congregation about products, including Silver Solution, that can prepare viewers for the end times.
Nixon, a Democrat and Missouri attorney general from 1993 to 2009, served two terms as Missouri governor from 2009 to 2017 before going into private law practice.
In a statement, Nixon said stores like CVS and Walmart sell supplements containing silver without incurring lawsuits from the Missouri attorney general.
“Targeting a Christian pastor, who has been using and offering the product for the past 10 years, is not supported by the facts or the law,” Nixon said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Missouri attorney general declined to comment, “on ongoing litigation except to say that we stand by our lawsuit.”
