Kemp to withdraw lawsuit against Atlanta mayor, city council over COVID-19 orders
Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday that he has filed to withdraw a lawsuit against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the Atlanta City Council over local coronavirus restrictions that the governor’s office claimed were not legal.
“I sued the City of Atlanta to immediately stop the shuttering of local businesses and protect local workers from economic instability. For weeks, we have worked in good faith with Mayor Bottoms, and she agreed to abandon the city’s Phase One roll-back plan, which included business closures and a shelter in place order,” Kemp said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the Mayor has made it clear that she will not agree to a settlement that safeguards the rights of private property owners in Georgia. Given this stalemate in negotiations, we will address this very issue in the next Executive Order. We will continue to protect the lives and livelihoods of all Georgians.”
Candice Broce, a Kemp spokesperson, said the issue that stalled negotiations was Bottoms’ desire to enforce the city mask mandate on private property without owners’ consent.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports it’s likely Kemp will remove a provision that explicitly outlawed cities and counties from mandating masks. He will likely add language to specify that local governments can’t order private businesses to require patrons to wear face coverings. The current executive order is set to expire Aug. 15 at 11:59 p.m.
Kemp filed the lawsuit against Bottoms and the city council in July alleging that by requiring the use of face masks and limiting gatherings on city property to 10 people, Bottoms attempted to “exercise an undelegated power against the state.” The lawsuit also claimed Bottoms and the city council did not enforce the coronavirus executive order enacted by Kemp.
Further, the lawsuit alleged restaurants in Atlanta closed their doors because Bottoms issued statements claiming the city was pausing its reopening and returning to Phase One. But Kemp alleged that she did not have this power.
“Mayor Bottoms’ orders and actions present a high potential for irreparable harm to the citizenry, including but not limited to, lost wages and livelihood, business closures, and the opportunity for economic growth,” the lawsuit said.
Previous executive orders passed by Kemp prevented local governments from enacting more or less stringent COVID-19 restrictions. Updated versions of the edict included language specifically banning local mask ordinances after several governments across the state passed their own mandates.
In response to Kemp announcing the withdrawal of the lawsuit, Bottoms called the governor’s statement “woefully inaccurate” and added that he “seeks to intentionally mislead” Georgia residents regarding their negotiations and the city’s reopening recommendations. She also quoted American poet and civil rights activist Audre Lorde in a tweet.
“Sometimes we are blessed with being able to choose the time, and the arena, and the manner of our revolution, but more usually we must do battle where we are standing,” Bottoms wrote.
As of Aug. 13, Georgia reported 228,668 coronavirus cases and 4,538 deaths.
This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 3:28 PM.