N.H. Gov. Chris Sununu gestures during a news conference as over 110,000 pounds of personal protective equipment (PPE), shipped from Shanghai, China, is unloaded from a cargo plane at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, New Hampshire, Thursday, April 30, 2020. The equipment will be used for medical workers and first responders in their fight against the virus outbreak. From left are inventor Dean Kamen, Sununu and U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

NASHUA – Whether Gov. Chris Sununu overstepped his authority in continually renewing New Hampshire’s state of emergency, which likely prompted Nashua officials to enact a mandatory-mask ordinance, is under consideration by a Superior Court judge.

The matter was the subject of a roughly two-hour hearing Thursday morning, at which Nashua resident Andrew Cooper argued in support of a temporary injunction he filed as part of a lawsuit he brought against Sununu and the city a month ago.

The crux of the suit is Cooper’s argument that Sununu “exceeded his statutory authority” as governor by issuing two executive orders extending new Hampshire’s state of emergency, which Cooper claims was unnecessary, mainly because “an emergency no longer exists in New Hampshire.”

Cooper also claims Nashua city officials did not have the authority to draft, and enact, city ordinance 0-20-018, which requires people to wear a facemask, or face coverings, inside, or just outside, of establishments such as restaurants, stores, offices and other businesses.

Once the sides completed their arguments on Thursday, Judge Jacalyn Colburn said she would take the matter under advisement. Additional filings are possible inthe case as well.

State Solicitor General Daniel Will, who represented Sununu at the hearing, moved to dismiss the suit, arguing that Cooper lacks the standing necessary to bring the action against the governor.

Will told the court that Sununu’s state-of-emergency declarations all “pass legal muster,” adding that there is no suggestion that the governor “acted in bad faith” in issuing the orders.

Legally, Will stated in his objection to Cooper’s motion for the injunction, Cooper fails to meet “the heavy burden” of “demanding the issuance of a mandatory preliminary injunction.”

As for lacking standing, Cooper “fails to show there is an immediate danger … that he will suffer irreparable harm” should the injunction be denied.

If in fact Cooper suffered any legal injury, Will added, that injury “derives from the Nashua ordiance,” not from Sununu’s state of emergency orders.

Will also argued that the governor “has broad authority to take critical steps to protect the public.”

At the city level, city corporation counsel Steve Bolton

defended not only the purpose of the mandatory-mask ordinance, but the procedure that led to its passage as well.

“The procedural requirements were adhered to, at least to the extent of substantial compliance,” Bolton said in the city’s response to Cooper’s injunction motion.

Further, he stated, the city “asserts that the actions of its Board of Health and Board of Aldermen were just and reasonable,” and that officials’ actions “were narrowly tailored to meet the crisis faced … (the actions) were lawful in all respects,” Bolton added.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.