Appeals Court Rules for DeSantis in School Battle; Reinstates Mask Ban
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A Florida appellate court came out in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) favor on Friday in his battle with a local school district, ruling that he could lawfully prevent the district from imposing a mask mandate on students.
The ruling from the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee overturned an earlier decision from Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper, who had ruled that DeSantis did not have the authority to prevent mask mandates. “Upon our review of the trial court’s final judgment and the operative pleadings, we have serious doubts about standing, jurisdiction, and other threshold matters,” the Tallahassee court said in its decision. “These doubts significantly militate against the likelihood of the appellees’ ultimate success in this appeal.”
Parents in the case are seeking to overturn DeSantis’ July 30 order. Thirteen school boards around the state have imposed mask requirements on their students despite the order, leading the state to withhold salaries from school district administrators in the defiant regions.
“Dem media activists framed the initial ruling as ‘crushing defeat for DeSantis’ even though everyone knew the appeal was coming,” DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw said after Friday’s ruling. “Now, the same people will either decline to report on this victory or frame it as ‘NBD, just a temporary setback’ for forced-masking.”
DeSantis took aim at President Joe Biden in remarks of his own shortly after the ruling. “He says school boards should be able to eliminate parents rights and force 5-year-old kids to wear masks all day, and that’s what he thinks is appropriate government,” DeSantis said. “We live in a constitutional system where people’s rights are respected.”
Charles Gallagher, the lead attorney for plaintiffs in the case, said his clients planned to appeal the decision. “We are disappointed by the ruling and will be seeking pass-through jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Florida,” Gallagher said. “With a stay in place, students, parents and teachers are back in harm’s way.”
