Governor Mills Asks Court to Dismiss
Lawsuit Against Her and Dr. Shah
They Do Not Want to Disclose Evidence that Could Indicate They Potentially Fluffed Up the State’s COVID-19 Data With Exaggerated, Conflated Numbers to Perpetuate Her Power
By: David Deschesne
Fort Fairfield Journal, May 5, 2021
On March 9, 2021 seven plaintiffs initiated a Maine Stands Up-backed lawsuit against Governor Mills and three of her cabinet members. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Bangor.
The lawsuit is currently before Judge Lance Walker and the Magistrate Judge, John Rich is handling the discovery. The lawsuit asks the court to inquire into whether an emergency really exists, conclude that it does not, and end the emergency and the emergency mandates in Maine. The lawsuit also asks the court to examine the constitutionality, under the Maine Constitution, of the Maine Emergency Management Act, which is the law which the legislature gave to Governor Mills the power to declare an emergency and prolong it both through unilateral proclamation and to make rules and regulations to address it without any legislative participation.
“Our constitution gives the legislature the right to pass laws. That's it, period,” said State Representative, Heidi Sampson (R-Alfred). The suit alledges and asks the court to find that MEMA violates the separation of powers required by Maine's Constitution because it concentrates the legislative and executive powers in the hands of a single person.
The lawsuit asks the court to find that MEMA itself and the individual emergency mandates harming the plaintiffs - i.e., masks, quarantines, remote learning, business closings, cross border travel restrictions, etc. - all violate a range of rights protected by the federal constitution
On April 9, the plaintiffs sought permission from the court to conduct limited, expedited discovery in advance of the time that the discovery is normally conducted. The plaintiffs asked the court to order the Maine CDC to disclose the following:
- The amplification cycles for each positive PCR test result for each PCR test conducted by the Maine Health and Environmental Laboratory.
- The death certificates for each death included in the COVID-19 death count;
- information that would help to further identify the primary external laboratories providing the PCR test results to the CDC. So that plaintiffs can conduct discovery on all of those laboratories, asking them to disclose their amplification cycles.
Plaintiffs are also asking permission to serve subpoenas on two external laboratories that have already been identified by the CDC in press conferences - that's LabCorps and Quest Diagnostics.
“The government opposed our request,” said Sampson at a recent Five Freedoms Rally in Augusta. “The court asked us to try to negotiate a resolution. We conducted a meet and confer with the government as directed by the court and not surprisingly, the government refused to release any of the information we requested from the CDC or to consent to our proposed subpoenas of LabCorps and Quest.”
On April 23, Governor Mills, one of the defendants, filed a motion to dismiss the complaint against them. “This was fully expected, it occurs in most litigation, and plaintiffs will learn a great deal about the government's legal strategies from this motion,” explained Sampson. “So, plaintiffs have the right to amend their complaint after this motion has been filed and are likely to do so to add new plaintiffs, add new facts and address the government's legal arguments.
Magistrate Judge Rich has scheduled a hearing for May 5 to consider the discovery dispute and hear arguments on both sides.
“This lawsuit I do believe has legs. I've talked to a number of legal minds who have said they concur.”
For more information on this lawsuit against Governor Mills and how to join it, visit www.mainestandsup.org
