School Mask Mandates Clear Early Hurdles in U.S. Court Fight
School Mask Mandates Clear Early Hurdles in U.S. Court Battles
(Bloomberg) -- Courts in two U.S. states issued preliminary wins to advocates pushing for requirements that students wear masks in school, but the underlying issue is set for further legal review.
The Texas Supreme Court in a one-sentence order Thursday rejected Governor Greg Abbott’s request for quick action to stop localities from imposing mask mandates in schools. The ruling forces the governor, who is currently quarantining after testing positive for coronavirus, to go through the appellate court before seeking action from the state supreme court. The same court had previously upheld his ban on local mask mandates.
In Florida, another state where the governor is seeking to stop school mask mandates, a judge on Thursday denied a request to throw out a lawsuit challenging that ban. Further hearings will be held next week in Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit in Tallahassee.
The rulings are the latest in a flurry of lawsuits that have come as the school year begins amid a surge of coronavirus cases, driven by the delta variant, across many parts of the U.S. Some Republican governors have called mask wearing a matter of personal responsibility rather than a government requirement. Earlier this week, President Joe Biden directed his education secretary to take steps -- including legal action -- to counter governors who have prevented schools from requiring children to wear masks.
A dozen states now require students in kindergarten to 12th grade to wear masks, while another handful bar such mandates. Litigation is underway in at least five states, as more children are sent to hospitals with the highly contagious delta variant.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican seen as a possible presidential candidate in 2024, says parents must be allowed to opt out of mask rules in schools for any reason. Public health officials have said mask mandates are less effective when they aren’t mandatory.
The Texas Education Agency yesterday said it would not enforce the governor’s executive order banning local mask mandates “as the result of ongoing litigation. Further guidance will be made available after the court issues are resolved.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Friday he’d filed suit against schools in San Antonio for requiring employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19. That’s a violation of the governor’s order that prevents “any government entity” from compelling vaccinations that are authorized under emergency use.
“The Texas legislature gave the governor the authority to create and enforce executive orders during a statewide emergency -- not a hodgepodge of county judges, city mayors or superintendents,” Paxton said in a statement. “If other governmental entities continue to blatantly disregard state law, I will sue every single one of them.”
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