Lawyer for suit challenging California COVID-19 rules wants Gov. Gavin Newsom deposed

Gov. Gavin Newsom, already facing a recall effort and a number of lawsuits over his stay-at-home orders, may soon face a new challenge: an effort to depose him and other top state officials over their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a motion filed in Sacramento federal court, plaintiffs suing Newsom over last spring’s ban on protests at the state Capitol asked for an order compelling the governor, former California Highway Patrol Commissioner Warren Stanley and former state Public Health Director Dr. Sonia Angell to sit for sworn depositions in the case.

The motion was filed following a Dec. 11 telephone conference between lawyers on both sides that left them “unable to resolve their differences,” according to court filings.

Lawyers for the state immediately filed their own motion seeking a protective order to prevent the depositions “on the grounds that each of these witnesses is a current, or former high-ranking public official who should not be subject to a deposition in a civil case absent compelling reasons which are not found here.”

Both sides are seeking a Jan. 6 court hearing in Sacramento before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn K. Delaney to argue the matter, which stems from an April lawsuit filed by Sacramento firearms instructor Ron Givens and former Republican congressional candidate Christine Bish.

Given and Bish sued over the CHP’s ban on issuing permits for protests at the state Capitol made in an effort to curb the health dangers of large groups of protesters gathering there during the pandemic.

The ban essentially resulted in more demonstrators descending on the Capitol demanding that Newsom reopen businesses, schools and churches, and the CHP rescinded the ban in June, saying the state had made progress fighting coronavirus infections.

The suit is still pending; the San Francisco attorney who filed it, Republican National Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon, did not immediately respond to a phone message Wednesday.

Lawyers for the state already have argued the case itself should be dismissed because the argument is moot, given that the CHP ban on protests has been rescinded.

“In light of these new guidelines, there is no longer any statewide prohibition against outdoor rallies and protests in California,” they wrote.