Rules Suspended, Stitt May Call Special Session
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Just hours before today's scheduled court proceedings against Gov. Stitt & the ABLE Commission, A District Court in OKC rescheduled the proceedings to January 8th.
All Injunctions against enforcement are also extended. This pertains to the early closure orders for all dining and nightclubs, as well as taverns. The plaintiffs argue that state laws and constitutional order was grossly ignored by the state, and no authority to impose penalties is established. The ABLE Commission has declined so far, to defend the rationale of legal foundation for the citations they have issued to several struggling Oklahoma establishments. Another development which might be related, was the hint from Governor Stitt that a special session may be called as early as next week. It was a comment he made at a press conference about vaccine distributions at nursing homes. He said some legal remedy is needed to facilitate video conference meetings of state & municipal agencies. Governor Stitt could simply request another statutory Health Emergency and activate a special session within 48 hours. The move could lead to a 30-day granting of special powers for the governor, but the legislature would have oversight and could revoke the emergency any time within those 30 days. Plaintiff's attorney, Frank Urbanic, leveraged the same Health Emergency declaration last April, when he published an expose' on the tactics of the governor's office, utilizing what appears to be some type of unofficial martial law powers, based on a finding that Oklahoma was in a state of widespread riot and/or insurrection, last March. Within hours of SoonerPolitics and others republishing Urbanic's discoveries, the governor called the health emergency request of the legislature. |
District Court Judge, Susan Stallings
JUDGE STALLINGS: BY AGREEMENT OF THE PARTIES THE EVIDENTIARY HEARING FOR INJUNCTIVE & DECLARATORY RELIEF IS CONT FROM 12-30-20 TO 1-8-21 @ 1:30PM
THE TEOMPRARY RESTRAINING ORDER ISSUED ON 12-17-20 WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL 1-8-21 |
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KJRH TV in Tulsa broke the news late Tuesday afternoon.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma bars can now stay open until 2 a.m. through Jan. 8, 2021.
This comes after an Oklahoma County judge delayed a court hearing about Gov. Kevin Stitt’s executive order to close bars at 11 p.m. READ MORE: Temporary restraining order issued to prevent Oklahoma bars closing at 11 p.m. The hearing was originally set to take place Wednesday, Dec. 30, but court records show the hearing was pushed back to Jan. 8. On Dec. 17, a judge issued a temporary restraining order to prevent bars from closing at 11 p.m. |
