<p>INDIANAPOLIS &mdash; </p>
<p>Indiana’s attorney general is arguing that the governor is wrongly trying to use the courts to expand his powers with a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/michael-pence-indiana-coronavirus-health-government-and-politics-17440d80bbbab67a26b52405ee2e400a">lawsuit challenging the authority state legislators</a> have given themselves to intervene during public emergencies.</p>
<p>Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb asked a judge last month to block the new law passed by the GOP-dominated Legislature following criticism from many conservatives over the statewide mask mandate and other COVID-19 restrictions that Holcomb imposed by executive orders.</p>
<p>Attorney General Todd Rokita, also a Republican, argues in court documents filed late Monday that he is within his legal authority to turn down Holcomb’s request to take the dispute to court after the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/legislature-health-eric-holcomb-legislation-coronavirus-pandemic-f3ebd3c2121bcb8ef0080a181a666a46">Legislature overrode the governor’s veto</a> of the new law.</p>
<p>“A lawsuit by the Governor against legislators to invalidate a law enacted over the Governor’s veto amounts to a demand for a ‘super’ veto via the judiciary,” the attorney general’s court filing said.</p>
<p>Holcomb’s lawyers argued last week that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/indiana-laws-government-and-politics-9bf02eb93ed132849ad609fd002f015d">Rokita was making “absurd” arguments</a> that he alone has the legal authority to represent the state in court and can decide whether the new law is constitutional.</p>