FRANKFORT, Ky. — According to a press release, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has filed a brief with the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of Governor Andy Beshear's executive orders regarding COVID-19.
Cameron's brief follows a ruling from a Boone Circuit Court judge who found some of the executive orders to be in violation of constitutional rights.
Cameron's office filed the motion on July 15 asking the judge to prohibit Gov. Andy Beshear from issuing or enforcing any executive orders surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Since the Governor issued an emergency declaration in March, he has unilaterally made the law in Kentucky without input from the General Assembly, the Commonwealth’s law-making body,” said Attorney General Cameron in a press release. “These laws have drastically changed how Kentuckians can live their lives, raise their families, operate their businesses, and make a living. The Governor simply does not have the authority to act as a one-man legislature, even during a pandemic.”
Cameron's office brief argues that the Governor’s actions disregard the constitutionally mandated separation of powers, which strictly prohibits a Governor from exercising legislative power.
The Governor’s executive orders also violate Sections 1 and 2 of the Kentucky Constitution, which afford Kentuckians the right to earn a living and protects them from the accumulation and exercise of absolute and arbitrary governmental power, according the release from Cameron's office.
Kentuckians must still follow Gov. Andy Beshear's COVID-19 orders until a decision is made by the Kentucky Supreme Court.
The case is set to continue in the Kentucky Supreme Court, and oral arguments are scheduled for Sep. 17, 2020.
To view a copy of the brief, click here.
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