Massachusetts’ top court on Friday expressed skepticism that local boards of health or the Legislature could have done a better job combating the COVID-19 pandemic than Gov. Charlie Baker, casting doubt on a challenge to his sweeping emergency orders.

During oral arguments in the case, the Supreme Judicial Court pushed back against an argument by the New Civil Liberties Alliance that Baker illegally shut down businesses and imposed severe restrictions under a civil defense law that was never intended to be used in a pandemic.

Published in Law360