Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday dropped his lawsuit against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the city council after he filed the mayor over mask mandates and other coronavirus protections reinstated in July.
“In light of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ concession regarding the City One’s Phase One rollback plan and its refusal in mediation to further negotiate a compromise, the Attorney General’s Office has submitted our pending -to retaliate, “a statement from the mayor’s office said Thursday.
Kemp said he was trying to protect businesses.
“I have filed with the City of Atlanta to stop the closure of local businesses immediately and protect local workers from economic instability,” Kemp said. “For weeks, we have been working in good faith with Mayor Bottoms, and she has agreed to the Phase One withdrawal plan of the city, which included business closures and a shelter in place order.”
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Kemp filed a lawsuit against Bottoms and the city council after the Atlanta mayor gave an order on July 10, pushing the city back into Phase One as cases of coronavirus began to increase, requiring people to stay home and wear a mask in it wear publicly. Restaurants and businesses were only allowed to be open for pick-up from the sidewalk.
Bottoms, a Democrat, told CNN in an interview last month that she believed the lawsuit was a “personal revenge” because he “did not sue the city of Atlanta. He has personally filed a lawsuit against me and our city council.”
In a brief submitted by Bottoms responding to the lawsuit, she defended the Atlanta mask mandate, saying the governor’s suit was antithetical and did not serve the public interest, as withdrawing her order prevented the spread of COVID-19 could increase and the number of lives damaged and lost to it.
Office of Bottoms could not be immediately reached for comment.
“Unfortunately, the mayor has made it clear that she will not agree to a regulation that protects the rights of privately owned owners in Georgia,” Kemp said Thursday.
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Kemp is expected to sign an executive order Saturday that will allow cities to maintain mask mandates, but only on government property – meaning Bottoms will not be able to oblige companies to abide by mask regulations, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Entrepreneurs called Kemp’s statement “doubtfully inaccurate”, but noted that she was “grateful that this lawsuit has been withdrawn and that the time and resources of our city and state can be better used to combat COVID-19.”
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Georgia has reported over 228,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and more than 4,500 deaths.
Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, is located in Fulton County and has reported the highest number of coronavirus cases in the state, with more than 21,000 confirmed cases – 3,400 of which have occurred in the last two weeks.
