(The Center Square) – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up a lawsuit filed by New Hampshire Democrats over the GOP-controlled Legislature’s rules on remote access to formal meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democrats filed a lawsuit last year alleging that House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, was violating the federal Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing to provide accommodations for 28 lawmakers with health concerns when the 400-member House resumed indoor meetings.
The lawmakers argued that their disabilities put them at heightened risk for COVID-19 infections.
Earlier this year, a divided 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Packard is protected by "legislative immunity" when making House rules, including public health precautions.
Democrats appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, arguing that the appeals court erred in its decision to reject the lawsuit.
New Hampshire lawmakers have been squabbling over access to remote and in-person meetings since the outset of the pandemic.
The wrangling began at the previous legislative session, after former House Speaker Dick Hinch, R-Merrimack, died of COVID-19 on Dec. 9, 2020 less than a week after being sworn in at the outdoor session at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
Republicans were criticized for holding the event in person amid the pandemic, and many lawmakers skipped the event, opting instead to take the oath of office virtually.
Democratic lawmakers sought to update the House's rules to allow remote voting during the pandemic, but the effort was rejected by Republican leaders. Shortly after, they filed a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to force the House to accommodate their health concerns.
The U.S. Justice Department filed a brief siding with Democrats in the lawsuit, arguing that Packard can't claim that the Legislature is immune from the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act to deny Democratic lawmakers remote access to meetings.
Former House Democratic Leader Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, who filed the lawsuit, passed away in March after a battle with cancer. But in court filings, Democrats say he contracted COVID-19, and that it became a complicating factor in his death.
Packard has repeatedly defended the efforts of the Republican House leadership to ensure a "risk mitigated environment" in the State House and other offices under their control.