The first hearing in the lawsuit Gov. Brian Kemp has filed against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over her response to the coronavirus pandemic has been rescheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday and will be streamed live online.

Kemp is suing Bottoms over the city’s efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease, including Atlanta’s requirement that people wear masks in public. Kemp, who has recommended but not required masks, says Bottoms cannot enforce measures that are more or less restrictive than his own. Augusta, Athens, Savannah and other cities across the state have instituted mask requirements similar to Atlanta’s.

More: Two judges recuse themselves from Georgia-Atlanta legal battle over pandemic requirements

Originally set for July 21, the first hearing was postponed after the Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kelly Ellerbe voluntarily recused herself. The case was then reassigned to Judge Shawn LaGrua, who also voluntarily removed herself. The case is now in the hands of Judge Jane Barwick.

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A Korean Air plane takes off from Incheon International Airport in South Korea on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. The plane is chartered to bring back Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in Georgia. (Yonhap via AP)

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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