Published 1:15 pm Thursday, May 28, 2020
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-at-home order should be lifted because the original crisis that provoked the emergency measure has passed, a lawyer told a Chelan County judge today.
Joel Ard, representing a coalition of residents in the Central Washington county, said hospitals are not in danger of being overwhelmed by people sickened by the coronavirus.
“The emergency is over. We’ve flattened the curve,” he said.
Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey Even said the governor is following science and said the burden was on Ard to prove there was no longer an emergency. “Mr. Ard needs to go find himself an expert witness,” Even said.
Ard’s clients are seeking a temporary restraining order to lift the governor’s restrictions on businesses and gatherings. Ard said the matter was urgent.
“Every day you can’t assemble, worship or freely move about is a harm,” he said.
The hearing in front of Superior Court Judge Kristin Ferrera was conducted by video conference and was the first court hearing on the legality of Inslee’s stay-at-home order, now in effect for more than two months. Several others lawsuits, filed in other counties and in federal court, are pending.
The hearing took more than three hours. Ferrera set another hearing for Monday afternoon to give her ruling. She noted the case is tinged with politics. “The court does not wade into political issues. The court is going to decide the case on the law,” she said.
The suit was filed in an fruit-growing county that has had six people die of COVID-19, according to the Washington Department of Health. A total of 17 people, or one in about 4,500, were admitted to a hospital. The county has confirmed 236 cases.
Ard acknowledged the coronavirus poses a threat and that Inslee had the authority to declare an emergency, but not to prolong it.
The order has usurped a law the Legislature passed in 2006 that calls for a statewide response to influenza pandemics that relies heavily on local health districts, he said.
The law envisions pandemics that kill up to 5,000 people. So far, 1,095 Washington residents have died of COVID-19, according to the health department.
Even said lifting the order would be too risky. “We could easily have a bounce back,” he said.
Ard said the order has brought societal ills. Ferrera said that while presiding over the criminal docket she has noted an increase in domestic violence and mental health problems, but said she needed to have that claim supported in the record. Ard said he would work on that.
The state is asking for the case to be moved to Thurston County, where the capital, Olympia, is. The state argued that the suits should be heard in the county where the order was issued.
