By Joshua Huff, sports editor
BIRMINGHAM — Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall wrote the Birmingham City Council and Mayor Randall Woodfin on Thursday imploring the city to reconsider the city’s intention to enforce a citywide face-covering ordinance set to go into effect on Friday, May 1, 2020, with jail time or fines.
The Birmingham order states that face coverings need to be worn when interacting with people in a public place outside of a home or a personal vehicle. The current fine can be up to $500 and/or up to 30 days in the municipal jail, should someone decide to disregard the order.
“My objective in writing you, therefore, is two-fold: 1) to ask that you reconsider enforcement of this ordinance and ensure that law enforcement has clear guidance from you in this regard; and 2) to raise your awareness of the high volume of constitutional questions and concerns that my Office has received in the last day and a half, in order to give you the best opportunity to protect your City against unnecessary litigation,” Marshall wrote.
His unease appears to be based upon a concern the law enforcement officers will strictly enforce the new ordinance, an issue that Marshall argues will divert manpower and resources away from “more direct threats to public safety.”
Woodfin, however, disagrees. He argues that Birmingham’s law enforcement officers have clear guidance on how to implement the order.
“Our actions have been reviewed carefully by legal counsel to ensure they are appropriate under our ongoing state of emergency and previous orders of the state health officer,” Woodfin wrote.
Jefferson County has the second-most cases in the state with 886 as of Thursday morning along with 45 deaths. As Woodfin noted, Jefferson County has only met two of the five “gates” that the White House recommended that each city and state surpass before economic reopening takes place.
Woodfin added that the city council is expected to reduce the current 24-hour stay-at-home order and implement a curfew between the hours of 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
“Let me be clear,” Woodfin wrote. “That every action we take has two purposes: to protect the health of our citizens to the greatest extent possible and to get our business back open as quickly as possible so our citizens can go back to work.”