Four conservative lobbyists filed suit in federal court on Wednesday seeking to block Nevada Governor Stephen Sisolak’s COVID-19 emergency orders. The lawsuit calls the shelter-in-place order a “draconian” restriction on Nevadans’ rights, alleging violations of plaintiffs’ due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and plaintiffs’ right to petition under the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The petitioners also allege that the emergency directives violate Article 4 Section 15 of the Nevada Constitution, which provides that “the meetings of all legislative committees must be open to the public, except meetings held to consider the character … of a person.”

The lobbyists acknowledge that the emergency policies were “well-intentioned” but claim they nevertheless “have had an unlawful and disparate effect on some people … to the point where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness have been ripped away from law-abiding citizens and businesses.”

The lobbyists state that, if the policies are allowed to continue to be enforced, such enforcement will be a violation of their civil rights and liberties. They seek injunctive relief barring the enforcement of the emergency directives; a declaration that the orders and directives violate their rights under the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments; and attorney’s fees associated with the cost of bringing this lawsuit.