Saturday, August 29, 2020

Commonwealth Magazine: "Healey argues that Baker has broad discretion under the Civil Defense Act"

From CommonWealth Magazine we share an article of interest for Franklin:

"GOV. CHARLIE BAKER filed a court brief on Friday defending his use of a 1950 Civil Defense Law to declare a COVID-19 state of emergency, equating the virus to the “natural causes” referenced in the law and pointing out that the Legislature has not balked at his use of emergency powers to shut down the state’s economy. 
The brief, which includes citations to Alexander Hamilton and The Federalist Papers, is the first time Baker has publicly spelled out in any detail his legal authority for declaring a state of emergency. 
Attorney General Maura Healey filed the brief on behalf of the governor in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of business owners and pastors who say the Civil Defense Law is not applicable to COVID-19 and the governor’s many sweeping orders to deal with the coronavirus infringe on powers granted to the Legislature under the state constitution. The parties are scheduled to appear before a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court on September 11. 
The Civil Defense Act of 1950 was passed at the beginning of the Cold War, a time when the United States was increasingly worried about the spread of communism and military threats from the Soviet Union. The law allows the governor to declare a state of emergency when the state is threatened by enemy attack, sabotage, riots, fires, floods, earthquakes, droughts, or “other natural causes.”
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)  
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/state-government/baker-defends-emergency-orders-under-civil-defense-act/

A COVID-19 testing tent outside the Bowdoin Street Health Center in Dorchester. (Photo by Michael Jonas)
A COVID-19 testing tent outside the Bowdoin Street Health Center in Dorchester. (Photo by Michael Jonas)


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