Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is threatening health departments and school districts with legal action if they continue to enforce mask mandates.
Schmitt announced his intentions in a Dec. 7 letter after Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green issued an opinion on Nov. 23 stating that mask mandates by local health departments are unenforceable, according to the U.S. Constitution, and should be withdrawn.
“All mask mandates, quarantine orders, and other public health orders that are based on any of the invalidated regulations or issued outside the protections of the Missouri Administrative Procedure Act are null and void,” Schmitt stated in the letter. “You should stop enforcing and publicizing any such orders immediately. Failure to follow the court's judgment may result in an enforcement action against you to remove orders the court determined are unconstitutional and illegal. We encourage you to take immediate action to remove all unconstitutional and illegal orders.”
St. Louis County officials subsequently announced a decision to reverse their mask mandate, according to a press release issued by the AG’s office on Dec. 9.
“If people choose to wear a mask to protect their health, that is their right and their option,” said Mary Byrne, a Springfield resident who holds a doctorate in education from Teacher's College at Columbia University in Manhattan. “The wearing of masks was in violation of OSHA standards in the first place and those OSHA standards were suspended solely for this pandemic. The question is why because what is known is that masks aren't going to prevent the transmission of this virus.”
In a separate press release, Schmitt asked for parents’ help in identifying schools that continue to enforce mask mandates.
“We’ve heard from parents that school districts are continuing to enforce mask mandates and quarantine orders in violation of the recent Cole County order,” Schmitt stated. “To enable parents to voice their concerns freely about continued mask mandates and quarantine orders, and ensure that those concerns are heard and investigated properly, we have set up an email inbox, illegalmandates@ago.mo.gov, for parents to communicate directly with the Attorney General’s Office. Parents are sick and tired of the stonewalling from their school districts, and so am I.”
Parents are encouraged to email photos, videos, documents, and other supporting information that prove schools are continuing to enforce mask mandates.
“There are federal dollars involved here,” Byrne told the St. Louis Record. “There is a grant called the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Act. To apply for these monies and to maintain these monies, school districts have to agree to comply with the Center for Disease Control guidance on reentry into schools. What is happening here is that the school districts are not being forthright about why their policies are the way they are. It has to do with this federal grant money.”