Thurston Judge ‘Dismisses’ Another Mask Legal Challenge
Thurston County Superior Court Judges have been known to side with the state and Governor Inslee on numerous occasions; it's the same county where Olympia is--the state capitol.
For years, the state and Inslee have attempted to 'pack' Thurston with government friendly judges; which is why the state tries to get most of the cases against it heard there.
This news was almost ignored by most media, but March 5th a Thurston County Superior Court judge essentially dismissed another legal challenge to the mask mandate by way of summary judgement.
The Freedom Foundation of WA had assisted in this case, the case of Andrea Sehmel vs. WA State Secretary of Health Dr. Umair A. Shah (in his capacity as the Health Secretary. The case challenges Inslee's (and the WSDOH) mask mandate on a variety of grounds, including un-Constitutional and violations of citizen's rights.
In his reply, a request for summary judgement (meaning the judge could basically toss it out without it being 'tried) Dr. Shah claimed Secretary Shah has no burden to prove the order's rational basis.
He also claimed Plaintiffs must prove the Order is not rationally related to any legitimate objective.
The original suit was filed back on February 5th, after some back and forth, on March 5 the judge ruled in the state's favor, basically doing away with the suit.
The Freedom Foundation issued the following statement (and they are appealing the decision:
Aaron White, National Director of the Foundation, issued this reply to the ruling:
“It is abhorrent that a Washington court has refused to recognize the separation of powers in a government overreach that touches the lives of every Washingtonian.
“The legislature makes the law, the governor enforces the law, and the judiciary decides what the law means. Today’s ruling disregards this fundamental guarantee by not only allowing the secretary of health (an unelected official who reports to the governor) to make the law up as they go, but because the judge declined to exercise their judicial mandate to protect individual rights.”
To read more about this case, click on the buttons below:
As the mask mandate issues rage on, they have certainly affected sports, including kids. Some teams required to wear them on the field.
KEEP READING: See how sports around the world have been impacted by the coronavirus