Supreme Court lifts lower court order that would have required more Covid-related safety measures in California jail

The vote was 5-4 and the four liberals on the court dissented.

The order is a victory for Orange County, whose lawyers argued that while there is "no doubt" that there are "significant and dangerous outbreaks" in some prisons and jails across the country, their jail is "not one of them." They argued that the jail had already moved to release 53% of inmates to increase social distancing, and that the lower court's order would have harmed the sheriff's office from an "effective and fluid" response.

"The order places staff and inmates at a higher risk by requiring actions not endorsed by the CDC," county lawyers argued.

Among other things, the lower court had ordered the jail to take the temperature of inmates daily, along with interviewing them about jail conditions.

Cassandra Stubbs of the American Civil Liberties Union, who represented the inmates, argued that prior to the district court's injunction the county was "shuffling inmates around the jail in defiance of Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines," leaving them "packed into dayrooms sharing the same air and bathrooms without social distancing."

Stubbs said her clients were provided with "watered-down disinfectant and make-shift masks made from blood-stained sheets."

At the time of the lower court order, 369 detainees had tested positive.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.