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BY ASSEMBLYMAN KEVIN KILEY

Our court victory over Gavin Newsom is front page news across the state, and the Governor’s Office is on its heels.

The Judge’s Order does three things. First, it suspends Executive Order N-67-20, through which the Governor unilaterally changed many election laws, including depriving Californians with disabilities of their statutory right to participate in election planning through a publicly noticed meeting.

Second, the Order restrains the Governor from “exercising any further legislative powers in violation of the California Constitution and applicable statute” and bars him “specifically from unilaterally amending, altering, or changing existing statutory law or making new statutory law.”

Third, the Judge ordered Governor Newsom to appear before the Court in two weeks.

The Governor’s Office put out a statement saying it was “disappointed” with the ruling. More bizarrely, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla railed against our legal challenge as “a continuation of the Republican Party’s plan to throw our democracy into chaos,” even though restraining the Governor’s own undemocratic conduct is the whole point of the Judge’s Order.

Even Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of UC Berkeley Law School and a leading defender of the Governor, concedes that the Judge’s ruling forbids “all Executive Orders that are unconstitutional or violate statutes.” And the Associated Press reported as follows:

“A California judge on Friday sided with Republican legislators who said Gov. Gavin Newsom overstepped his powers with dozens of emergency orders during the coronavirus crisis that changed everything from how public meetings are conducted to when tenants can be evicted.

“Sutter County Superior Court Judge Perry Parker only halted one of the orders, involving the November election, but ordered Newsom to refrain from new orders that might be interpreted as usurping the Legislature’s responsibilities.”

“Lawmakers of both political parties have criticized Newsom, a Democrat, for not sufficiently including them in his sweeping declarations and budget decisions since the pandemic began. The governor has issued more than 40 executive orders, according to a court filing by Gallagher. They are in a 28-page list submitted by Kiley of Newsom’s orders that alter existing state laws.”

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