Walking around during a blizzard invokes “The Right of Locomotion”. Just like speech, it’s up to the walker to decide whether or not to walk. Government has not been given the power to stop people from walking about. (Government has no Rights. First it doesn’t need rights, it has power and second Rights only apply to Individuals, not groups, states or governments. That’s why they are colled Individual Rights.) Actually the word individual is not necessary since only individuals can have Rights. For more information read Ayn Rands exposition of Individual Rights.

Remember, slaves were forbidden from walking off the property of their owner but slavery was made unconstitutional by the 13th Amendment.
The Thirteenth Amendment was used to strike down “badges and incidents of slavery”. The Thirteenth applies to government, businesses and private citizens. The 13th amendment is the protection from the government that’s meant to prohibit government from ordering the citizens about.

Additionally, the people are sovereign’s and no one can tell a sovereign when or where to walk, right?

No governor can enforce a law that prevents people from walking, driving, riding a bicycle or a horse. Indeed there are times and places where those activities can be done but so far as ordering the citizenry to stay away from the city, nope, the governors don’t have the power. The Right to Travel was the issue in the Rosa Parks Civil Rights case. The Supreme Court ruled her right to travel must be supported.

Governor Andrew Coumo and Mayor deBlasio assuredly know they don’t have the power to stop people from locomoting. They got away with it by invoking some sort of “Emergency Power” because of the blizzard but they don’t have the power that they believe they have during an emergency. They can order about State and city workers, not private citizens.

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