State high court wants info in pub challenge to Lamont
The state Supreme Court has asked both sides in a challenge to Gov. Ned Lamont’s emergency powers, to research the differences between civil- preparedness and public health emergencies, and to file additional briefs by the end of business on Dec. 30.
The issues were not explored enough during a Dec. 11 virtual hearing on the issue, so the high court on Tuesday asked for Assistant Attorney General
Philip Miller and the lawyer for Kristine Casey, a Milford bar owner, to the explore the issue further.
The court, led by Chief Justice Richard A. Robinson, wants Miller and Casey’s attorney, Jonathan J. Klein of Bridgeport, to answer questions on whether the governor abandoned reliance on the public health emergency law as a legal basis to support the order restricting seating capacity in Casey’s Bridgeport Avenue pub; and “assuming he did not,” whether Lamont’s reliance on the public health emergency alone support him in the challenge.
During the hearing earlier this month, justices noted that there seemed to be a need to differentiate Lamont’s executive powers under state law on both the health emergency and the civil preparedness emergency, which he also declared back in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, in March when he ordered bars and restaurants closed.
While restaurants were allowed to reopen first for outdoor dining and then at limited, socially distanced capacity indoors, bars like Casey’s Irish Pub have remained closed since March.
“The Supreme Court asked for supplemental briefings on the Civil Preparedness and Public Health Emergency statutes,” said Elizabeth Benton, director of communications for Attorney General William Tong, on Wednesday.
“The governor is fully empowered under these statutes to protect public health, and his actions under the Public Health and Civil Preparedness emergencies have been lawful and necessary. We will continue to strongly defend them.”
Klein on Wednesday declined comment on the case, in which he and Casey claim that the governor exceeded his constitutional authority, essentially taking it away from the General Assembly, in ordering the nearly nine- month-long closure of bars.