New Mexico court: Grand juries can’t challenge COVID orders

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that citizens can’t convene grand juries to investigate the governor’s response to COVID-19 because her actions were lawful and within the scope of her authority. The high court’s order Monday scuttles three grand jury petitions in the politically conservative southeastern corner of the state against New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The justices also ordered district courts to deny any similar petitions as they are filed. In the response to the pandemic, the Democratic governor has pursued aggressive emergency public health orders that restricted nonessential business, imposed extended mask mandates and enabled many public schools to suspend classroom teaching for a year or more. The orders have withstood multiple legal challenges.