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#Oklahoma Supreme Court rejects bid to stop Trump Tulsa rally

#Oklahoma Supreme Court rejects bid to stop Trump Tulsa rally

June 19, 2020 | 3:53pm | Updated June 19, 2020 | 4:56pm

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Friday rejected a bid to effectively stop President Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa Saturday by requiring everyone inside the arena  to maintain social distancing of at least six feet and wear a face mask.

“It is not the duty of this Court to fashion rules or regulations where none exist,” the court wrote in a unanimous decision.

The petitioners did not establish that they have a “clear legal right” to the relief requested, wrote Chief Justice Noma D. Gurich, who was first appointed by a GOP governor but reappointed by a Democrat.

The justices also cited a lack of any mandatory language in the state’s reopening plan, which provides social distancing guidelines for entertainment venues but does not require them.

The action was brought by John Hope Franklin for Reconciliation, a nonprofit that promotes racial equality, and the Greenwood Centre, Ltd., which owns commercial real estate, and on behalf of two local residents described as having compromised immune systems and being particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Tulsa’s GOP mayor confessed to feeling anxious about the potential spread of the coronavirus by people attending the rally.

“As someone who is cautious by nature, I don’t like to be the first to try anything. I would have loved some other city to have proven the safety of such an event already,” Mayor G.T. Bynum wrote.

The city’s health director, Dr. Bruce Dart, has said he would like to see the rally postponed, noting that large indoor gatherings are partially to blame for the recent spread of the virus in Tulsa and Tulsa County.

The rally was originally scheduled for Friday, but it was moved back a day following an uproar that it otherwise would have happened on Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in the US, and in a city where a 1921 white-on-black attack killed as many as 300 people.

Marc Lotter, the Trump campaign’s strategic communications director, told MSNBC on Friday that the rally “is really a celebration of an America that’s reopening.”

He said the campaign asks that supporters stay away from the rally if they or a family member are in a high-risk category for serious complications from the coronavirus.

That message has not been widely echoed by the president or his campaign, which has encouraged supporters to attend, and Lotter said the campaign would not require wearing face coverings.

“If you want to make that choice to come here, celebrate your First Amendment rights as well to assemble, to let your voices be heard and to celebrate an America that’s reopening and this president then you’re encouraged to come here,” he said.

Oklahoma has seen a recent spike in coronavirus cases, setting a daily high on Thursday of 450.

Health officials on Friday reported 125 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Tulsa County, which is the most of any county in Oklahoma.

Statewide, there were 352 new cases and one new coronavirus death reported Friday, raising the state’s total number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began to 9,706 and its death toll to 367.

The actual number of people who have contracted the virus is likely higher because many people have not been tested and studies suggest that people can be infected but not feel sick.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks.

But for others, especially older adults and people with pre-existing health problems, the highly contagious virus can cause severe symptoms and be fatal, and has killed nearly 120,000 Americans to date.

With Associated Press

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