Schmidt drops lawsuit against St. Louis County

(AP) Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has dropped his lawsuit challenging St. Louis County’s COVID-19 pandemic response.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Schmitt, a Republican, voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit on Thursday. The lawsuit was filed May 11.

County officials dismissed it as a political ploy by Schmitt, a Republican who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2022. Just days after the suit was filed, it appeared to become moot after St. Louis County began lifting regulations that had been aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.