San Bernardino County sues Gov. Newsom to stop coronavirus lockdown – Daily Bulletin
>>San Bernardino County is going to the California Supreme Court in an attempt to stop the stay-at-home order that
went into effect in Southern California on Sunday, Dec. 6.
In a lawsuit filed directly to the state’s top court late Monday night, Dec. 14, the county argues that Gov. Gavin Newsom had no authority to ban all gatherings except protests and religious services, close many businesses designated as nonessential, end in-person dining at restaurants and cap restaurant’s occupancy at 20%.
It asks for a decision by Monday, Dec. 28, when the three-week stay-at-home order is set to either expire or be renewed.
Newsom’s press office did not respond to an email seeking a response to the lawsuit or the legal authority for the orders.<<
>>The stay-at-home order and earlier pandemic orders cite the
California Emergency Services Act, which says in part that during an emergency, the governor will “have complete authority over all agencies of the state government” and “shall promulgate, issue, and enforce such orders and regulations as he deems necessary.”
The governor should declare the emergency over “at the earliest possible date that conditions warrant” or when the state Legislature declares it over, according to the act.
San Bernardino County asks the court to find either that the act does not allow Newsom to pass laws nine months into an emergency or — if it interprets the act as including that power — that the act should be struck down because it delegates legislative powers to the governor in violation of the state constitution.
The Michigan Supreme Court
declared that governor’s orders, also intended to curb the coronavirus, to be unconstitutional based on a similar law rooted in the Michigan constitution, San Bernardino County’s attorneys note.
The county hired the firm of Tyler & Bursch, which has offices in Murrieta and Anaheim and is handling
other lawsuits objecting to aspects of the state’s coronavirus response.<<
>>To file the lawsuit as quickly as possible, they changed their strategy so that it wouldn’t be necessary to wait for counties to debate the lawsuit at a regularly scheduled meeting and possibly ask for changes, Hagman said Tuesday. But officials in Riverside, Orange and other counties have expressed interest and he encouraged them to file friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the lawsuit, Hagman said.<<