Gov. Gavin Newsom "bluntly" stated in a recent legal brief that California is now an autocracy due to the pandemic, according to Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R-Roseville).
“There it is,” tweeted Kiley on Twitter. “In his latest brief in our case, Gavin Newsom bluntly states that California is now an autocracy: ‘The Emergency Services Act centralizes the State’s powers in the hands of the Governor.’”
Assemblyman Kiley made the comments in reference to a lawsuit that he and Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Sacramento) filed against Gov. Newsom's executive order N-67-20, which mandated a host of rules related to the November elections, such as number of precincts, planning the election and how many days polls must open prior to the election.
“Gavin Newsom simply said in a very direct way that the Emergency Services Act centralizes, apparently, all of the power of the state in his own hands, which it does no such thing,” Kiley told the Southern California Record. “There are very clear limits. It doesn't give him the ability to do away with the constitution, which insists on the separation of powers. So, for him to say something like that shows that he is misguided in understanding what powers are available to him.”
As previously reported, the COVID-19 outbreak led to the expansion of Gov. Newsom’s executive powers after a state of emergency was declared on March 4. The state of emergency has not been terminated and is still in effect.
“It just confirms everything we've seen the last several months that he has acted well outside the bounds of the powers afforded to him either by the constitution or by this particular law,” said Kiley in an interview. “He's cut the legislature out of the process of governing the state and he's overwritten the authority of local jurisdictions.”
Gov. Newsom’s request to replace Sutter County Superior Court Judge Perry Parker who approved the two assemblymen’s temporary restraining order (TRO) was granted.
“The fact they granted it is not surprising,” Kiley said. “That's fairly standard but I think that it does raise some questions that the governor would make these sorts of statements about a sitting judge for the state of California, that somehow the judge is prejudiced and needs to be removed from the case. I'm not sure that’s something you want to hear the governor saying about a sitting judge.”
Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a section 170.6 motion to disqualify the assigned Superior Court Judge Perry Parker in July, stating:
“Please take notice that Defendant Gavin Newsom, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of California, moves that this action, which has been assigned to the Honorable Perry Parker, be reassigned from that Judge, and that no matters hereinafter arising that may relate to Defendant Newsom in this action be heard or assigned to the Honorable Perry Parker, on the ground that said Judge is prejudiced against defendant’s interest in this action.”
The case will undergo a trial on October 21 and a pretrial conference is set for next week.