Political Rewind: Fiery Battle On Mask Mandates Enters The Court Room

Caption

Christina Blossey stands in front of her body piercing business, Piercing Experience, Tuesday, April 21, 2020, in Atlanta. Blossey says her business is likely to remain closed until she can be assured that she can acquire masks and cleaning materials regularly to keep her customers safe.

Credit: Ron Harris - AP

Friday on Political Rewind, local and state officials joust over mask mandates.

Now the argument becomes a legal dispute after Gov. Brian Kemp files a legal complaint against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' mask order.

In a press conference Friday morning, Kemp said mask mandates were unenforceable and ineffective. For her part, Mayor Bottoms told CBS This Morning that Kemp is playing politics with the pandemic. 

Despite the legal complaint, Fred Smith, a law professor at Emory University, told Political Rewind that the legal argument is unclear.

“From a legal perspective, he picked literally the weakest case,” Smith said.

State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver said she was interested to see how a judge would handle the legal arguments in this case.

"I would not be surprised to see a judge slow-walking this case, giving a lot of opportunity for public discussion," the representative from Decatur said. "I think it would be a public service to have a public discussion."

Also on today's show, our panel of experts discussed the legal matters in the news; the heartbeat bill and a pair of federal executions.

Panelists:

Jim Galloway — Lead Political Writer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Edward Lindsey — Republican Strategist

State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver — (D-Decatur)

Fred Smith — Emory University, School of Law

Listen to Political Rewind with Bill Nigut on weekdays at 9am and 2pm.