The Checkup: Governor's pandemic powers face legal test
September 11, 2020
BAKER GETS A CIVIL DEFENSE: The state’s law firm, led by Attorney General Maura Healey, is defending Gov. Charlie Baker’s use of the 1950 Civil Defense Act in combating the coronavirus pandemic.
The Supreme Judicial Court heard arguments Friday for and against a nonprofit group’s claim, filed in June, that the act wasn’t meant to extend to pandemics and to allow sweeping executive orders regulating civic behavior.
