Earlier this week, I noted that after a circuit court ruled Florida Governor Ron DeSantis could not prohibit schools from imposing mask mandates, lawyers for the governor filed an emergency appeal.
DeSantis’ legal team won a victory in appeals court.
One day after a state judge ruled against a ban on school mask policies, a Florida court has reinstated the stay, upholding Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban preventing rules requiring face coverings from being implemented in schools across the state.The move from Florida’s 1st District Court comes shortly after Tallahassee Circuit Court Judge John Cooper ruled to allow masks in schools and removed the automatic stay from the previous order.
The decision was based on doubts about standing and jurisdiction.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal pointed to “serious doubts” about a parent-led lawsuit that contends the governor overstepped his authority when issuing an executive order that aimed to bar strict mask mandates in schools.“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 order states. “These doubts significantly militate against the likelihood of the appellees’ [parents’] ultimate success in this appeal.”The order means that pending the outcome of an appeal, the state can continue to punish school officials who impose mask mandates without a parent opt-out.
Florida’s governor was delighted with the win.
Thirteen of Florida’s 67 school districts currently have mask requirements.
…[T]the state has begun to withhold funds equivalent to monthly salaries of school board members in Alachua and Broward counties, and have begun looking in for other counties that are not playing ball.This all comes the day after President Joe Biden’s administration announcing the creation of a new grant designed specifically to cover any fine.
Legal Insurrection readers may also recall that during his most recent detestable address, Biden said, “If these governors won’t help us beat the pandemic, I’ll use my power as president to get them out of the way.”
Clearly, he was targeting Governor DeSantis. The governor blasted Biden with verbal nukes and F15’s during a press conference, where he was asked to respond to the current occupant of the Oval Office.
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