New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez will not defend Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s controversial gun order, which is facing multiple lawsuits, in court.

Torrez told the governor in a letter Tuesday that he believed the emergency order, which temporarily bans people from carrying firearms in public spaces across Bernalillo County, violated the state and federal constitutions. Because of that, he said his office would not defend the governor against several legal challenges.

“I am writing to inform you that my office will not defend your administration in the above referenced cases challenging” Lujan Grisham’s order, Torrez wrote.

“Though I recognize my statutory obligation as New Mexico’s chief legal officer to defend state officials when they are sued in their official capacity, my duty to uphold and defend the constitutional rights of every citizen takes precedence,” his letter continued. “Simply put, I do not believe that the Emergency Order will have any meaningful impact on public safety but, more importantly, I do not believe it passes constitutional muster.”

Lujan Grisham signed an executive order on Friday that banned open and concealed carrying firearms in Albuquerque and the rest of the surrounding county. The governor enacted the order — to remain in place for 30 days — after a spate of shootings that killed several children.

“The tragic deaths of 5-year-old Galilea Samaniego in a recent drive-by shooting and 11-year-old Froylan Villegas in a road rage incident should serve as a wakeup call to everyone,” Torrez wrote. “I encourage you to engage in a more thoughtful and deliberative process with members of the New Mexico Legislature rather than taking unilateral action that infringes on the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens while having little if any discernible impact on the underlying dynamics driving gun violence in our community.”

BREAKING: New Mexico Attorney General tells the Governor that he won't defend her carry ban, saying "I do not believe it passes constitutional muster." pic.twitter.com/ORat27wAvn

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) September 12, 2023

Torrez, a Democrat, joins a handful of other officials in refusing to enforce or defend the order. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, also a Democrat, said in a statement to social media that the city’s police force would not be responsible for enforcing the governor’s order. Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen announced on Monday that he would not enforce the order either, calling it unconstitutional.

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Lujan Grisham responded to Allen in a statement to the NM Political Report, saying that her administration had “given you the tools, Sheriff Allen — now stop being squeamish about using them. I will not back down from doing what’s right and I will always put the safety of the people of New Mexico first.”

Lujan Grisham said in an interview on CNN: “It’s not for police to tell me what’s constitutional or not. They haven’t supported one, not one gun violence effort in the State of New Mexico including domestic violence protections, universal background checks.”

The New Mexico governor has also taken criticism from prominent national progressives over her gun order, such as California Rep. Ted Lieu and gun control activist David Hogg. Each said that the governor’s order violated the U.S. Constitution.

A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted five former Memphis police officers with federal civil rights conspiracy and obstruction charges connected to the murder of Tyre Nichols earlier this year.

“Tyre Nichols should be alive today,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a news release. “It is tragic to see a life cut short at 29, with so many milestones unmet, so many words unsaid, so much potential unfulfilled.”

Emmitt Martin, Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills, Justin Smith, and Demetrius Haley — the ex-cops named in the indictment — face four charges each, including excessive force and failure to intervene, deliberate indifference, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice through witness tampering in federal court, according to the Justice Department.

Mike Stengel, a Memphis lawyer representing Haley, told The Wall Street Journal that his client would plead not guilty.

Blake Ballin, a lawyer for Mills, told The New York Times in a statement that his client “maintains his innocence.”

William Massey, a lawyer for Martin, told the outlet that his client would plead not guilty and attempt to release more footage about what led to the initial stop.

Lawyers for the other defendants have not made public comments.

Nichols, a black 29-year-old FedEx worker, died on January 10, three days after a brutal beating captured on camera showed the former officers kicking, punching, and tasing him that stemmed from an attempted arrest during a traffic stop for suspected reckless driving.

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Nichols was subdued, but then he fled before being recaptured minutes later, and police allegedly kicked and punched him multiple times. Nichols later died at a hospital, and his death was later reported as a homicide due to blunt-force trauma, according to a medical examiner’s report reviewed by Nichols’ family through their attorneys, Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, Fox News reported.

The five officers were fired and subsequently charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, and other charges in a separate case in Tennessee. The defendants pleaded not guilty in February to second-degree murder and additional charges in connection to Nichols’ death.

All five former officers were members of a so-called crime-fighting unit with the Memphis Police Department. Although the officers charged in Nichols’ death were all black, and their special unit was disbanded, activists have taken to blaming “systemic racism.”

If convicted on the federal indictment, the former police officers could face up to life in prison for the first two counts and 20 years in prison for counts three and four, according to the Justice Department.

Attorneys for Nichols’ family told NBC News in a statement that the federal indictment “gives his family hope as they continue to grieve his loss and inspire change in his honor.”

The federal indictment comes after the Justice Department announced two months ago that the federal agency would launch a civil rights investigation into the Memphis Police Department after more reports emerged of officers using excessive force.

Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.