The Supreme Court today denied an original writ petition seeking to overturn stay-at-home orders issued by Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration (see here and here) to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Justices Goodwin Liu and Martin Jenkins were recused.
The petition in County of San Bernardino v. Newsom claimed that Newsom has “acted contrary to long-standing legal doctrine by substituting himself as the chief and sole legislator for laws relating to the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The County said it sought “to reclaim its police power over its residents and vast land mass, . . . to enable it to tailor regulations and orders which are specific to its residents based on facts which are unique to their locations rather than subject its residents to overbroad multi-county, Governor-implemented, regionalized lockdowns.”
