No ruling yet on federal suit challenging Charlie Baker’s coronavirus restrictions
A federal court judge held off a ruling on a lawsuit that challenges a string of executive orders by Gov. Charlie Baker in response to the coronavirus pandemic and could have broad implications for governors’ actions across the nation.
Massachusetts District Court Judge William Young said he is “taking this matter under advisement” following a 35-minute virtual bench trial on Monday. Young did not say when he would render an opinion.
“Whatever I declare in this case, one would think that a like case could be brought three months, six months from now because there is no end in sight,” Young said during proceedings.
Baker declared a state of emergency on March 10, and has issued dozens of executive orders in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Massachusetts. His evolving orders have ranged from ordering businesses deemed nonessential to shutter physical operations to closing public schools to limiting how many people can gather in one place.
The 82-page complaint argues that the governor overstepped his authority by invoking the Civil Defense Act to justify his shutdown of businesses, schools and churches and placing restrictions on public gatherings at the onset of the pandemic in March.
The suit calls Baker’s order requiring people to wear masks “irrational, arbitrary and capricious.” His lawyers’ argument purports the governor’s mask mandate and restrictions on assembly, particularly in churches, violate the First-Amendment rights of Vincent Delaney, a Peabody man who initiated the lawsuit.
“We risk suspending our constitutional liberties. This is not a minor issue that has been laid out here. This is a fundamental bedrock right about our country,” said attorney Thomas Mason.
The state’s lawyer Amy Spector argued Delaney’s rights haven’t actually been violated because “he’s never been denied entry or right to communion.”
Many of the orders referenced in Delaney’s complaint have changed as the pandemic has evolved in Massachusetts and are likely to change again.
Delaney is leading the charge in a second suit seeking to curb the Baker administration’s coronavirus response. On Friday, a group of 11,000 Massachusetts residents filed a lawsuit challenging the flu shot mandate.
Protesters crowded outside the Moakley Courthouse in Boston’s Seaport on Monday as the bench trial for Delaney’s initial suit carried on via live stream.
Baker’s coronavirus response faces a similar challenge in the state’s Supreme Judicial Court where a group of business owners and religious leaders
State officials have contended that Baker was within his authority to lean on the Civil Defense Act when he declared a public health emergency on March 10. Although the order does not use the word “pandemic” outright, state lawyers argue it grants broad authority for the governor.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2SBnKMt
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