“This Court Will Wait No Longer”
Many people have asked what’s taking the Court of Appeal so long to decide our case. Now, other courts are asking the same question – and using the delay as a reason not to end Newsom’s lockdowns.
The Pacific Legal Foundation is challenging Newsom’s color-coded “Blueprint” using the same separation of powers argument that was successful in our case. A few days ago, a Superior Court in Fresno denied their preliminary motion. The Judge wrote:
“The court is aware of a matter fully briefed before California’s Third Appellate District, which raises some of the same issues presented in this case. This court will wait no longer for a determination in that case.”
So that is…frustrating. Yet there’s a silver lining: the Fresno Court is acknowledging that the ruling in our case, if upheld on appeal, is a precedent for challenging the lockdowns throughout California – a point Newsom himself has acknowledged as it pertains to the Emergency Services Act.
To be clear, I’m not criticizing the Court of Appeal for the delay. In fact, it may be a good sign. If the court were to take the route Newsom desperately wants, dismissing the case on a technicality, that would be a quick opinion to write. Indeed, it was Newsom who asked the court in November to reverse Judge Heckman’s decision immediately, which it refused to do.
On the other hand, if the court were to issue the first precedent-setting decision in California history restraining a governor’s emergency powers, that would be a longer and carefully worded opinion. Recall that even Newsom said the trial court’s ruling “calls into question vast swaths of the State’s emergency response” and threatens to invalidate “dozens of other executive actions.”
If the Court of Appeal were to go a step further, and strike down the entire Emergency Services Act, that opinion would likely be written with even greater care.
None of this is to say I’m happy about the wait. We need a change now. 2021 simply cannot be a repeat of 2020. The good news is our Healthy Communities Resolution has now been passed by about a dozen counties, and the Recall has reached 1.4 million signatures.
Meanwhile, there’s apparently a group that’s written Gov. Newsom a letter urging him to appoint me Attorney General. I’m afraid I’d have to decline such an appointment. I’d then be litigating against myself.
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