Governor Charlie Baker and a group of business owners suing to overturn his emergency orders amid the coronavirus pandemic are asking the state’s highest court to hear the lawsuit, arguing it could provide clarity about his authority during this unprecedented time.
The petition to the Supreme Judicial Court comes more than a month after the businesses, with the backing of a local conservative group, filed a lawsuit challenging the emergency powers Baker, a Republican, has used under a 70-year-old Cold War-era law to guide the state through the public health crisis.