A Florida Court Has Struck Down the State Governor's Effort to Prohibit Masks from Being Worn in Schools

A Florida Court Has Struck Down the State Governor's Effort to Prohibit Masks from Being Worn in Schools

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was temporarily barred from banning masks in public schools by Second Circuit Judge John Cooper.

Cooper had previously decided that DeSantis could not retaliate against local schools for requiring masks. DeSantis filed an appeal, requesting that masks be banned until a higher court made a definitive judgment, but Cooper ruled in favour of Florida schools, allowing them to continue to require masks.

Throughout the trial, DeSantis argued that requiring masks in local schools violated the Parents' Bill of Rights. Executive Order 21-175, also known as Ensuring Parents' Freedom to Choose — Masks in Schools, was also signed by him. According to this ruling, disguising children might have serious health and societal implications. Parents said that it was the government's obligation to ensure school safety.

Cooper used the rigorous scrutiny test to determine that school mask rules are the “least restrictive means of treating the virus” and that public safety is a compelling state interest. As a result, he concluded that the school's mask regulations were legal since they served the state's public-safety interest.

Following Cooper's decision, Republican Florida Rep. Anthony Sabatini announced the introduction of HB 75, a bill that would repeal all vaccination and mask regulations in the state. Woke businesses, radical school boards, and lawless local governments, he said, are infringing on every Floridian's liberties.

The US Department of Education has launched an investigation into five states to see if their mask bans violated the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The agency, on the other hand, decided not to investigate Florida and three other states because their mask prohibitions were not being enforced.