JUSTICE HAS PREVAILED!
(At least temporarily)
Apparently, the grapes were sour anyways. After Attorney General Torrez refused yesterday to defend the governor's order in court, her office fired back that she "did not ask the attorney general to represent the state", as well as attacking his failure to combat crime during his tenure as DA and AG. This circular blame-game now occurring between the mayor of Albuquerque, its former DA, law enforcement leaders, and the governor looking for someone to assign blame for the crime ravaging our community is yet more time wasted by our elected leaders, all of whom bear a heavy burden of guilt on the issue.
Despite the Attorney General's refusal to defend her, the governor's order was the subject of motion hearings on temporary restraining orders in 5 of the lawsuits (NAGR, GOA, WTP, FPC, and Private Individual 1) today before Judge Urias, a Biden appointee. The various plaintiffs generally agreed that the sections requiring enjoinment were Sections 1 and 4 of the public health order, and section 4 of the executive order directing local governments and agencies to enforce the order.
An attorney appeared on behalf of the governor and made a number of fundamentally political arguments, up to and including the judge to relitigate Bruen. Astonishingly, she said the order was not a law, and could therefore stand, despite the Second Amendment. He eventually began pushing back on her arguments, and informed her that he could not relitigate Bruen on the governor's behalf.
When he came back, he granted a temporary restraining order that returned New Mexico to the status quo on all carry, effective immediately. This means we can, for now, return to life as it was before last Friday, as far as the use of firearms.
The NMGOP announced its lawsuit yesterday, saying it would attack the underpinnings of the order in state court. Dozens rallied outside the party office, once again armed, with the state police absent from that event and an armed protest on Civic Plaza. The "gun free zone" signs usually found on Civic Plaza were, also, mysteriously absent yesterday. We have also heard that despite much sound and fury, the governor's office has yet to refer a single person to the state police for citation, and is now unable to do so.
