{"id":808132,"date":"2020-06-05T16:56:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T22:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=384583"},"modified":"2020-06-05T16:56:21","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T22:56:21","slug":"legality-of-colorado-summit-county-public-health-orders-under-the-microscope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/legality-of-colorado-summit-county-public-health-orders-under-the-microscope\/","title":{"rendered":"Legality of Colorado, Summit County public health orders under the microscope"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Summit County Public Health Director Amy Wineland speaks at a press conference March 5 at the County Commons building in Frisco to discuss the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the state. Fifth Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown said Friday that the public health orders are constitutional. <\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ Summit Daily News<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

FRISCO \u2014 Colorado, along with nearly every other state in the union, was challenged with age-old questions of liberty and constitutional rights during the pandemic shutdown beginning in March. A stay-at-home order from Gov. Jared Polis\u2019 office limited the ability of Coloradans to live the normal and unencumbered life they had come to expect as members of a free society.<\/p>\n

One main contention from opponents of the stay-at-home orders is that the state\u2019s bans on travel, gathering en masse and opening business were unconstitutional. But while the measures appeared to be extreme, given the unprecedented and global nature of the lockdown, the legal authority behind it appears to be sound.<\/p>\n

Colorado resident Michael Lawrence went as far as to sue the state in federal court at the end of March, claiming his constitutional rights were violated in various forms due to the public health orders. A federal judge dismissed the claim<\/a>, saying that state and local authorities were granted proper authority for the public health order under existing legislation, and the court had no reason or basis to override that authority.<\/p>\n

The primary order in contention was Executive Order 2020-017, signed by Polis on March 25. The order required Coloradans to stay at home, with certain exceptions to conduct essential business, while temporarily closing all businesses considered as noncritical. The order was in effect until April 11.<\/p>\n

In his executive order, Polis cited as authority powers invested in his office under Article IV, Section 2 of the Colorado Constitution as well as the Colorado Disaster Emergency Act, under C.R.S. \u00a724-33.5-701.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article IV, Section 2 is a blunt, simple declaration: \u201cThe supreme executive power of the state shall be vested in the governor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Disaster Emergency Act channels that executive authority toward emergency situations, providing the governor a broad set of tools and powers to resolve the emergency through action and funding, with little aside from time limitations curtailing that power. Public health agencies also are given broad authority to implement necessary measures, with justification provided, to safeguard communities from disasters, such as the current pandemic.<\/p>\n

Fifth Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown weighed in on the constitutional and legal issues surrounding the stay-at-home order and various other public health orders that have arisen from the governor\u2019s emergency declaration in March.<\/p>\n

Brown said he had studied the issue extensively when the pandemic hit the state, seeing it as his duty as an officer of the law to uphold the constitution and prevent governmental abuse of power.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is of concern to me because, if the regulation or law enacted is unlawful, then the District Attorney\u2019s Office won\u2019t enforce it,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe have a responsibility to be convinced that any restriction that would be enforced by criminal prosecution meets the requisite constitutional tests.\u201d<\/p>\n

After doing his research, Brown concluded that Colorado\u2019s stay-at-home orders were constitutional as well as the other public health guidelines and requirements derived from the disaster declaration, including requirements for masks and shuttering nonessential businesses and events.<\/p>\n

\u201cColorado law gives broad authority to local public health departments,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI looked at those statutes and came to the conclusion that the actions being taken are constitutional and in compliance with statute. I may have disagreed at times, in my own opinion, as to whether or not those restrictions should have been enacted, but that\u2019s for the public health directors to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown cited a recent Supreme Court decision in proving the constitutionality of such public health orders across the nation.<\/a> The case \u2014 South Bay United Pentecostal Church, et al., Applicants v. Gavin Newsom, Governor of California \u2014 involved a church suing California\u2019s governor for limiting attendance in the state\u2019s churches.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court\u2019s liberal wing, that the public health orders enacted by the governor did not violate the First Amendment as it was enforced neutrally across all businesses and institutions of similar capacity and gathering purpose.<\/p>\n

As far as state law, Brown said that his office has the authority to enforce those public health orders under C.R.S. \u00a725-1-516, which punishes violations of county health orders as a class one misdemeanor, and \u00a725-1-114, which punishes violations of state health orders as an unclassified misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000 and one year of jail time.<\/p>\n

But Brown was adamant that his office would use enforcement only as a last resort. Local law enforcement authorities, including Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons, had declared early in the shutdown that law enforcement officers would use ticketing or arrests only as a last resort.<\/a> FitzSimons cited the lack of resources for active enforcement and the preference to work with the community and educate them about the need for social distancing, wearing masks and other provisions of stay-at-home and safer-at-home directives from the county and state.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaw enforcement officers are discouraged from enforcing public health order violations and instead encourage, whenever practical, to educate the public and provide written warnings to offenders encouraging compliance,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIssuing a violation could be counter productive to engaging compliance with public health orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Brown reserved the possibility of enforcement for noncompliant actors, saying violations at commercial establishments were \u201cat the higher end of the likelihood of prosecution.\u201d Brown noted that these businesses are already required to comply with health, building safety and fire codes to stay in operation, and he sees the evolving public health guidelines as part of that duty to maintain safe environments for patrons.<\/p>\n

In reference to a possible second wave in fall or winter, and the likelihood of stiff public opposition to another economic shutdown, Brown made it clear that the District Attorney\u2019s Office would not balk at enforcing public health orders when another major emergency occurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m afraid of a second wave,” Brown said. “We don\u2019t want it to happen, and it is everyone\u2019s responsibility for it to not happen. Nobody should see our reluctance to prosecute as an unwillingness to prosecute.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summit County Public Health Director Amy Wineland speaks at a press conference March 5 at the County Commons building in Frisco to discuss the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the state. Fifth Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown said Friday that the public health orders are constitutional. Liz Copan \/ Summit Daily News FRISCO \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-808132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-07 02:21:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}