A group of North Carolina bar owners, including several in Eastern North Carolina, is asking a state court for permission to question former Governor Roy Cooper under oath about his pandemic-era closure orders.
The business owners want to depose both the former governor and his top health official to prove that the state's lockdown orders violated their constitutional rights. The legal team representing the bars argues that forcing their businesses to shut down while allowing other establishments to stay open was unfair and illegal.
If approved by the court, the legal depositions would force the former administration officials to answer questions about the specific data used to justify those sweeping executive orders.
The state has previously defended the emergency closures as necessary measures to protect public health during the height of the crisis.
