Attorney general asks judge to determine legality of Beshear’s COVID-19 mask mandate
The top two leaders of Kentucky’s General Assembly and Attorney General Daniel Cameron are criticizing Gov. Andy Beshear for mandating the wearing of masks to curb COVID-19 without consulting them, and Cameron on Friday asked a state judge if the order is legally proper.
“As usual, you have put forth this order by edict rather than through collaboration,” said Senate President Robert Stivers, House Speaker David Osborne and Cameron —all Republicans — in a two-page letter sent to Beshear, a Democrat, Thursday night.
They noted in their letter to the governor that earlier Thursday a judge in Scott County “issued a statewide temporary restraining order against your executive orders and guidance.“
They were referring to an order by Scott Circuit Judge Brian Privett in response to a lawsuit filed by Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, a Republican, and Evans Orchard and Cider Mill in Georgetown, challenging Beshear’s restrictions on certain businesses. Cameron joined the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Besides issuing a restraining order on Beshear’s restrictions for 548 agritourism businesses registered with the state Department of Agriculture, the judge said before Beshear could issue or enforce any executive order related to the COVID-19 emergency that he declared March 6, “the governor or other person authorized by the governor shall specifically state the emergency that requires the order, the location of the emergency, and the name of the local emergency management agency that has determined that the emergency is beyond its capabilities.”
Beshear called the judge’s order “reckless” and criticized those who brought and supported it.
The governor Friday asked the Kentucky Court of Appeals in a 44-page document to stop the Scott Circuit Court order.
“We have asked the Court of Appeals to suspend the judge’s order, as it is dangerous and allows 500-plus businesses to operate without any safety requirements, including social distancing or even hand washing,” said Beshear spokeswoman Crystal Staley.
She said Privett’s order “will not affect the requirement to wear a face covering” and noted that the governor’s executive order contained provisions for an emergency regulation.
“Wearing a mask will save Kentucky lives, protect $10 billion of Kentucky’s Gross State Product and give us the best chance of starting school in the fall,” she said.
Leigh Anne Hiatt, a spokeswoman for the state courts system, said at 4:45 p.m. Friday that an appellate judge was reviewing Beshear’s request for “intermediate relief.”
Meanwhile, Cameron asked Privett Friday to consider whether Beshear’s mask order “complies with the current temporary restraining order stopping enforcement of COVID-19 executive orders that are not in compliance with state law. “
“Had the governor consulted with our office and the leadership of the General Assembly on his order prior to its issuance, this step would have been unnecessary,” Cameron said in a release. “The governor has refused input on his executive orders, despite offers of assistance. This pattern has led to numerous challenges in court, all of which he has lost.”
Cameron said he wanted to make clear that his request to the court Friday “is not about whether or not it is appropriate to wear a mask. It is my belief that masks are an important tool in fighting this pandemic.
Quarles said in a news release Thursday night that the lawsuit is not about Beshear, is not political and is not personal.
“It’s about people who have been deprived of their rights to participate in the policy-making process,” Quarles said. “All that I am asking him to do is to issue emergency administrative regulations that take effect immediately — with a public comment period, like the law requires. The governor’s rhetoric makes it sound like he is unaware of this part of the law.”
In their letter, the Republican leaders said they were made aware of the mandatory mask order through Beshear’s 4 p.m. news conference Thursday on the coronavirus pandemic in Kentucky.
Beshear said he had signed an executive order to require all Kentuckians with a few exceptions to wear masks when in public starting at 5 p.m. Friday. The order is to last for at least 30 days and be enforced by local health departments.
Beshear said cases of the deadly virus are rising in Kentucky and the mask order is necessary.
The letter from the legislature’s top two leaders and Cameron said they “are in a unique position to work with you on developing policies that protect public health during this pandemic while respecting the constitutional rights of Kentuckians.”
They added: “With nearly half of Kentucky’s workforce unemployed and Kentucky families facing unprecedented hardships, we must work together to ensure that any new policies or executive orders do not further harm our fragile economic recovery. Instead, you have unilaterally imposed arbitrary and overbroad orders that purport to address the spread of the novel coronavirus in the same way—whether in Paducah or Pikeville, or whether in Louisville or Harlan. Unfortunately, your approach has repeatedly violated the Constitution and laws of this Commonwealth.”
Besides Thursday’s ruling from the Scott circuit judge, they noted other court orders that have limited Beshear, including his orders restricting certain businesses like Florence Speedway and daycare centers, mass gatherings and religious services and a travel ban.
“These court actions could have been avoided had you more carefully considered the constitutional implications and consulted with a broad range of stakeholders,” they said.
Osborne said Thursday the issue is not about masks. “The real issue is that the governor refuses to work with other elected officials to develop public policy that best serves the people of Kentucky and preserves their Constitutional and legal rights.”
Beshear was asked at Friday’s news conference on COVID-19 why he has not included the legislature in coming up with his orders. He said many state lawmakers refuse to wear masks and noted that 26 legislators in Mississippi have tested positive for the virus.
Meanwhile, the Kentucky Democratic Party on Friday accused Republicans of “coordinating with partisan judges to put politics above public safety.”
A release from the party named Judges Privitt and Rick Brueggemann from Northern Kentucky. It said several social media posts show Privett with GOP elected officials, including Quarles, and that Brueggeman was a former head of the Boone County Republican Party.
“In other states where the attorney general and governor are of different political parties, like Kansas, there have not been any lawsuits challenging these public safety protections,” the party said. “Cameron appears to be focused on his political ambitions and is putting Kentuckians at risk.”
Republican Party spokesman Mike Lonergan said the response by Democrats was “nothing but purely political sour grapes.”
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 11:55 AM.
