A federal judge in Florida on Monday shot down an emergency request from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and fellow beachfront property owners to be exempted from a public health order that cut off beach access during the pandemic. Huckabee, the father of President Trump ’s former White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, argued that a county ordinance blocking him from access to the Gulf of Mexico shoreline behind his estimated $3.3 million home violated his constitutional rights. U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson on Monday denied the suit brought by Huckabee and more than a dozen other plaintiffs that sought an injunction against Walton County, Florida, and the local sheriff. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on April 1 put in place a 30-day stay-at-home order for the state, but did not close beaches. The next day, Walton County passed an ordinance that closed off beach access and made violators subject to criminal penalty until April 30. The county said that measure was designed to address a recent uptick in the number of crowds gathering on its beaches, which threatened to spread the coronavirus. Huckabee and other beachfront property owners sued several days later. They alleged that the county had unconstitutionally deprived them of their property without compensation, violated their due process rights and conducted unreasonable seizure of their private beach property. “The County’s Amended Ordinance would force family members into a confined space within a house rather than allow them to social distance and recreate in their sandy backyard,” the complaint states . “Or it forces them to public locations to recreate potentially closer to many other persons that may have COVID-19.” An attorney for the plaintiffs did not respond to a request for comment. Florida has recorded some 21,000 coronavirus cases and 500 deaths, according to […]
