Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday he’ll drop his lawsuit against the city of Atlanta and its mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, allowing Atlanta to keep its mandatory face mask mandate. The Republican governor, who has railed against compulsory mask wearing despite a surge in coronavirus cases in his state, sued the Democratic mayor personally as well as the city council. The lawsuit argued that local cities and leaders can’t impose rules that go above Kemp’s executive orders for the state. It asked a judge to overturn Bottoms’ order, block her from issuing any more orders, force the council not to ratify any orders from Bottoms that are inconsistent with Kemp, and gag Bottoms from making public statements about her authority to override Kemp’s orders. Negotiations ordered by a judge between both sides had broken down, but it wasn’t clear what prompted Kemp to drop the suit all together.
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