North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper responds to a lawsuit about his executive orders. | North Carolina Governor's Office/Facebook
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper responds to a lawsuit about his executive orders. | North Carolina Governor's Office/Facebook
Gov. Roy Cooper is firing back at criticism of his administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling a lawsuit brought by Lt. Gov. Dan Forest as “divorced from reality” in his response to the litigation.
A hearing was scheduled to happen on Aug. 4, the Carolina Journal reported. Forest, a Republican, is requesting a temporary restraining order placed on several of the measures Copper, a Democrat, has put in place through his executive order authority.
Cooper’s 53-page legal brief alleged that Forest is not challenging the process taken in putting measures into place, but the measures themselves, the Carolina Journal reported. He alleged that Forest’s “repeated criticism” of the policies Cooper has implemented by executive order should invalidate Forest’s contention that he is challenging them based on the manner they were put into place.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest filed a suit in July challenging Gov. Roy Cooper's executive order use.
| Photo Courtesy of Dan Forest Facebook
The complaint from Forest, filed on July 1, states that Cooper did not follow proper procedures to completely shut down entire sectors of the state’s economy, the Carolina Journal reported.
“This action is about the rule of law. That the chief executive must follow the law is as old as the idea of the rule of law itself,” the Carolina quoted from Forest’s filing. “The legal maxims rex legi subjectus est (the king is subject to the law) and lex non a rege est violanda (the law is not to be violated by the king) makes this principle absolutely clear.”
Forest is the Republican candidate for governor against Cooper, who is seeking a second term.
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