A federal court hearing Monday in a Florida lawsuit filed in part by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is closed to the public, according to media outlets in that state.
The hearing, which is by telephone only, was set by U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Pensacola. Vinson's order included a federal district court telephone number for attorneys to call to arrange participation. The hearing was set for 9:30 a.m.
The Destin Log, an online service of newspapers in the Destin area, reported Friday evening that the court had denied a reporter's access to the hearing.
The hearing involves beaches now closed to the public.
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Huckabee and his wife, Janet, are among 15 parties in a lawsuit challenging a Walton County ordinance that closed beaches as a way to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Their lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction against the ordinance and immediate halt to its enforcement.
The Huckabees and the 14 other parties in the lawsuit own beachfront homes on the Gulf Coast. They contend that the county's ordinance is preventing them from using their own "backyards," is an unconstitutional "taking" of private property without just compensation, and illegally goes beyond what Florida's governor has ordered.
The Destin Log reported Friday evening that one of its reporters tried to arrange access to the hearing but was told by a court deputy that "only attorneys of record will be allowed to call in." The court deputy said Vinson gave no explanation for the order, the news outlet said.
The news outlet also reported that an attorney who filed the lawsuit contesting the closing of the private beaches said he didn't know why the hearing was closed.
A website for the federal court didn't include an electronic filing Saturday for Vinson's order to close the hearing to the media and the public.
Huckabee, who was governor of Arkansas from 1997 to 2007, was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2008 and 2016. He also is a former host of a talk show on Fox News.
Not long after moving to Florida in 2010, the Huckabees bought the Santa Rosa property for $800,000 and built a $2.2 million, 11,188-square-foot home in 2011, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has reported, citing county permits. The beachfront property is between Santa Rosa Beach and Grayton Beach State Park, east of Destin, Fla.
The lawsuit case number is 3:20-CV-05358.
A Section on 04/12/2020