Georgia governor to drop lawsuit over Atlanta mask mandate
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday said he’s dropping a lawsuit against the city of Atlanta in a dispute over the city’s requirement to wear masks in public and other restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Kemp had sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the City Council to block them from implementing restrictions at the local level, even as case counts and hospitalizations in the state soared.
The Republican governor argued that local governments can't impose measures that are more or less restrictive than those in his statewide executive orders, which have strongly urged people to wear masks but not required them.
He has sought to block local governments from issuing orders requiring that masks be worn, but several cities, including Atlanta, have done it anyway.
In addition to mandating masks, Bottoms, a Democrat, made statements in July indicating that the city would return to Phase One of its reopening plan, meaning that people would have to return to sheltering at home and restaurants would have to return to takeout and delivery only. She later said those statements were recommendations, not legal orders, and that Kemp did not understand what she was doing.
A statement sent out by Kemp's office on Thursday said the lawsuit is being dropped because of Bottoms' “concession regarding the city’s Phase One roll-back plan and following her refusal in mediation to further negotiate a compromise.” A spokeswoman for Georgia's attorney general declined to comment.
Bottoms responded with a statement of her own.
“From the start of this pandemic, my only goal has been to help save lives,” she said. “While it is unfortunate that the Governor seeks to intentionally mislead the people of our state by issuing a woefully...
