FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky’s Supreme Court has agreed to take up Gov. Andy Beshear’s challenge of Republican-backed laws aimed at limiting his authority to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.


What You Need To Know

  • A few coronavirus-related cases are headed to Kentucky's highest court soon

  • The court is taking up Beshear's challenge of Republican-backed laws limiting his authority, as well as a suit from a group of restaurants challenging his bar and restaurant restrictions

  • The court will hear arguments June 10 in both cases

  • Last year, the state Supreme Court upheld the governor’s authority to issue coronavirus-related restrictions on businesses and individuals to try to contain the spread of COVID-19

The GOP-dominated legislature passed the measures this year over Beshear’s vetoes. The governor immediately filed a lawsuit and the new laws curbing his executive powers were temporarily blocked by Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd.

Both sides in the dispute – which tests the balance of power between the state’s executive and legislative branches – had predicted the case would end up before Kentucky’s highest court.

The Supreme Court said it will extend its review to a second pandemic-related case at the same time. A group of brewpubs and restaurants, including Goodwood Brewing Company and Dundee Tavern, sued after the Kentucky legislature overrode the governor’s veto of a bill to rein in his use of executive authority.

“We’re excited to present our clients’ case to the Kentucky Supreme Court,” said Oliver Dunford, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, representing the businesses. “We hope the court will agree with our simple proposition that the governor—like everyone else in the Commonwealth must follow the laws.”

In that case, Scott County Circuit Judge Brian Privett temporarily blocked applying some pandemic-related restrictions to several restaurants and breweries challenging the governor’s actions. The state Court of Appeals this week stayed Privett’s temporary injunction.

In signing orders Thursday for the Supreme Court to consider the cases, Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. said the review will be expedited. The court will hear arguments June 10 in both cases. The court decided to hear the cases at the same time as a matter of “judicial economy,” Minton said.

Republican lawmakers said the challenged measures are meant to put checks on what they view as Beshear’s overreach in ordering a series of restrictions to combat the virus’s spread. The governor maintains the steps he took to limit activity during the pandemic have saved lives.

One of the new laws would limit the governor’s executive orders in times of emergency to 30 days unless extended by lawmakers. Under another measure, businesses and schools would have to comply either with COVID-19 guidelines from the governor or the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They could follow whichever standard is least restrictive.

Shepherd’s temporary injunction was extended recently to apply to a follow-up measure that specified which of Beshear’s pandemic-related orders would remain in place should the legislature win its a legal fight with the governor.

It’s the latest round of court fights over Beshear’s response to the pandemic. Last year, the state Supreme Court upheld the governor’s authority to issue coronavirus-related restrictions on businesses and individuals to try to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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