Federal Judge Burns South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Over COVID Response

A federal judge took a rhetorical torch from South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, saying in a ruling this week that the state had done “little, if anything” to prevent COVID-19 from ravaging the state. Sioux Falls Chief Argus reports that U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann has ordered a state court to stop using the pandemic as an excuse to delay the trial of an accused. Then he went to seek the state’s response to the crisis itself. “South Dakota has done little, if anything, to curb the spread of the virus,” he wrote. “South Dakota cannot ‘take advantage’ of its own breaches of scientific fact and safeguards to blanketly deny the rights to expeditious trials.” Noem has opposed mask warrants and other lockdown measures, even as his state racked up one of the worst per capita infection rates in the country. “His example greatly encourages people in South Dakota not to wear masks,” the judge wrote. “South Dakota is now a very dangerous place to live due to the spread of COVID-19.”