‘Best left to individuals.’ Judge blocks Beshear restrictions on daycares, racetracks.
A Boone Circuit Court Judge late Thursday issued a temporary restraining order on Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive orders limiting attendance at racetracks and class sizes at daycares.
The ruling comes as part of a Northern Kentucky lawsuit that argued Beshear had overstepped his authority when he set restrictions on how businesses could reopen, in attempts to limit the spread of COVID-19.
In his ruling, Judge Richard Brueggemann said the Beshear administration had set arbitrary restrictions that could cause the owners of Florence Speedway and Little Links to Learning daycare to lose their businesses.
“As yet, it is unclear what criteria is being used to establish which businesses may survive versus those that must shutter,” Brueggemann wrote. “These are all parts of Americana. To be sure, people have preferences concerning which of these, if any, they’d choose to participate. But that is a value judgment. And it is a value judgment best left to individuals.”
Brueggemann said in his ruling that Beshear had different rules for childcare centers taking care of the children of essential workers and first responders and that the administration had allowed other businesses like movie theaters to reopen at 50 percent capacity. He ordered that childcare programs will now be allowed to have a maximum capacity of 28 children and that racetracks will be allowed to have 50 percent capacity.
Beshear’s office, which has said it based its guidelines on how businesses can reopen on the advice of public health experts and input from businesses, said it would immediately appeal the ruling in attempts to get it heard by the Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court.
“This ruling is dangerous and would lessen and eliminate important protections that numerous states are using to stop the spread of the coronavirus,” said Crystal Staley, Beshear’s communications director. “The ruling lessening day care protections comes on the same day that we learned 300 children in Texas day cares have contracted the virus.”
The Judge also allowed Attorney General Daniel Cameron to intervene in the case on “behalf of the people.” Cameron filed to join the lawsuit earlier this week.
“Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Beshear’s restrictive executive orders have shuttered the Commonwealth’s economy, leaving nearly half of our workforce unemployed and dictating the manner in which Kentuckians can live their lives,” Cameron said.. “While there is no doubt a need to protect public health during this pandemic, our Constitution expressly prohibits one person from controlling every aspect of life for Kentuckians.”
The ruling was celebrated by Republican lawmakers. The House Majority Caucus put out a statement Friday drawing parallels between the judge’s decision and Independence Day.
“The timing of today’s court order is significant in that once again we see not only the enduring vision of the patriots who signed the Declaration of Independence, but also the ceaseless conviction of countless men and women of all races and backgrounds who have come together to defend it in the years since,” the statement said. “We applaud the court for upholding its obligation to provide a more thorough review of the executive branch’s actions and authority.”
Republicans have increasingly pushed back against Beshear’s restrictions, even as those restrictions have begun to loosen while Kentucky’s cases of COVID-19 have been described as in a plateau. Earlier this week Ryan Quarles, Kentucky’s agriculture commissioner, filed a lawsuit against Beshear with Evans Orchard and Cider Mill.
On Friday, the state announced 299 new cases of COVID-19 and four coronavirus related deaths. There are currently 455 people in the hospital with the virus, 99 of whom are in intensive care. That is the highest number of Kentuckians hospitalized with the virus since June 11 and the highest number of people in the ICU since May 19, according to numbers released by the Beshear administration.
This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 6:20 PM.
