Gov. Beshear suffers legal defeat in combating COVID surge

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky governor’s efforts to aggressively combat COVID-19 suffered a landmark legal defeat Saturday as the state’s high court cleared the way for new laws to rein in his emergency powers.

The state Supreme Court ordered a lower court to dissolve an injunction that temporarily blocked the Republican-backed laws strictly limiting Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s emergency powers.

The ruling revolved around a constitutional showdown between Beshear and the GOP-led legislature over the scope of the governor’s executive authority in emergencies. It comes as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging because of the highly contagious delta variant.

The case stems from measures passed by the legislature this year to curb those emergency powers in response to Beshear’s aggressive handling of the coronavirus crisis. The governor immediately filed a lawsuit challenging the measures after his vetoes of the bills were overridden.