Georgia Gov. Kemp: Sued Atlanta Mayor Over Masks to Protect Economy

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Tuesday insisted he has always supported wearing masks in the fight against the spread of coronavirus, but he sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and city council members for the community's mask mandate to protect the livelihoods of people who are trying to restore the economy. 

"When we have local mayors that start going either above or beyond the executive orders that I have in place and try to pull back on our economy and start shutting our economy and shutting businesses down with really a knee jerk reaction, I just can't allow that," the Republican governor told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "We filed the suit to put Georgia first and to make sure we can continue to do those two things, protecting lives but also thinking about our future and what people are struggling with right now."

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kelly Ellerbe was to have held the first hearing in the legal battle on Tuesday, but the proceeding was canceled hours before it was to start when Ellerbe voluntarily recused herself from the case, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ellerbe's order contained a series of emails, including one from Deputy Georgia Attorney General Julie Jacobs that asked the judge to recuse herself, but did not say why. 

Kemp, though, said he's been saying for weeks masks are needed, and millions of face coverings have been ordered and are being deployed to local governments and to schools to encourage people to wear a mask when they can't socially distance themselves. 

"We rolled out a new testing partnership yesterday that's going to increase our testing by 10,000 per day," said Kemp. "We're working because of a conversation that we had with Dr. [Deborah] Birx and Dr. [Robert] Redfield last week to see how we can have a federal-state partnership here, along with some of our hospitals so we have a lot in the works."

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