Governor Larry Hogan sued by three state delegates, other businesses and groups

MARYLAND – The Governor of Maryland is being sued by a handful of plaintiffs, including three state delegates. The delegates claim that the Governor’s orders and restrictions around the coronavirus could potentially be unconstitutional.

“The issue is whether or not the governor has exceeded his authority to issue these rulings, to have a Draconian requirement to stay at home, to have a Draconian requirement to pick winners and losers and to order churches on lock-down,” Delegate Dan Cox, one of the plaintiffs, said.

“The lawsuit is basically saying that we want to see if the actions taken by Governor Hogan meet a judiciary test,” Delegate Neil Parrott, another plaintiff, said.

Delegate Cox, Delegate Parrott, and Delegate Warren Miller say they’re concerned about Governor Hogan’s actions, some of them even calling his orders an overreach of his power.

“Now we’re at day 34 of the house arrest, as I call it because it truly is, you cannot leave your house unless the government, or the governor’s order has deemed it appropriate under certain conditions,” Delegate Cox said.

Now, Delegate Cox, Delegate Miller, and Delegate Parrott are hoping the court will agree with them and put a stay on the governor’s orders. If the court disagrees, Delegate Miller says they’ll keep trying.

“If the court finds the executive orders are constitutional, then we’ll have to appeal the lawsuit up the ladder of the federal appeals chain,” Delegate Miller said.

Delegate Miller says while the lawsuit doesn’t focus entirely on the governor’s stay at home order – that’s one piece of law that should be scrutinized.

“I think in a way it’s selfish of people to think that everybody should just stay inside indefinitely until the conditions are just right,” he said.

While the plaintiffs now wait for the court to make a move in the case, they tell 47 ABC that whatever the outcome, future generations could feel the impacts of this case.

“Here’s my big concern, are we setting a precedent for future times when, a Governor who may not have the best interest of Marylanders is executing orders like this and then we’d have no recourse?” Delegate Parrott said.

47 ABC did reach out to Governor Hogan’s office for comment on the lawsuit and we have not heard back.  Delegate Dan Cox adds that other states have seen their executive orders challenged, including Pennsylvania, and he’s hopeful the court will make the Governor respond and defend his orders.