BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Supreme Court has sent a dispute between Gov. John Bel Edwards and Republican lawmakers over the governor’s authority to issue coronavirus orders back to the district court.
Justices found that 19th Judicial District Judge Billy Morvant erred in concluding that a state law Republicans were relying on to end the governor’s Oct. 8 COVID-19 restrictions violated the state constitution. Morvant should have pursued the non-constitutional grounds for ruling on the Republicans’ petition before looking at the constitutional issues, according to the ruling.
“The governor further alleged non-constitutional grounds for finding the House petition was null, void and unenforceable, including detailed allegations that the legislative defendants failed to consult meaningfully with the public health authority as required by La. R.S. 29:768(B) prior to issuing the petition,” the justices decided.
The Pelican Institute for Public Policy, which supports having more legislative checks on the governor’s executive authority during health emergencies, welcomed the high court’s decision that came down late last month.
“I think it’s promising that the district court is going to take another look and see whether or not the House members complied with that requirement of the statute,” Sarah Harbison, the institute’s general counsel, told the Louisiana Record.
State lawmakers hear from people in their communities about how coronavirus orders affect their lives and are in a good position to advise the governor about these community concerns, Harbison said.
Both a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned coronavirus restrictions imposed on houses of worship in New York and better data on how the virus is spread have helped to provide more direction on how governors can issue such public health orders, according to Harbison.
“I think it suggests that we as a country are starting to turn a corner when it comes to coronavirus restrictions,” she said.
The U.S. Supreme Court found that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo exceeded his authority by imposing limits in so-called coronavirus red zones that allowed only 10 people to congregate in some houses of worship – at a time when nonreligious organizations were not so restricted.
The Louisiana legislature had passed legislation that would have required the governor to consult with legislative leaders prior to issuing new coronavirus orders, but Edwards vetoed that bill. In turn, Republican lawmakers then filed a petition to overturn the governor’s October order using another Louisiana statute.
Having a bill to mandate consultation between the executive and the legislative branches prior to the governor issuing public health orders would be the best way to address the current dispute, Harbison said.
“The best course of action we think is for the governor or whoever is designing the executive order to take a look at where the virus is spread and see what can be done safely rather than throwing out a one-size-fits-all approach,” she said.