Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis lost a legal battle this week as a Leon County district judge rejected the governor’s arguments that the state should be allowed to enforce a ban on local school districts imposing mask mandates while the issue is litigated.
Circuit Court Judge John Cooper sided with pro-mask-mandate parents who are plaintiffs in the litigation over DeSantis’ executive order banning school mask mandates. The ruling also stops the Florida Department of Education from penalizing school districts for putting such COVID-19 public health masking rules in place.
But the plaintiffs’ attorney, Charles Gallagher, told the Florida Record this week that he expects the debate over enforcing the ban will continue at the appellate level. DeSantis has appealed Cooper’s ruling on the merits of the parents’ case to the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee.
“For the reasons stated in the record, plaintiffs’ emergency motion to vacate the automatic stay is granted, and the automatic stay is set aside, effective immediately,” Cooper said in the Sept. 8 opinion.
In their motion, the parents argued that allowing the state to follow through on the mask mandate ban during an appeal would amount to the enforcement of an unconstitutional executive order.
“If the automatic stay remains in place, defendants would be permitted for the duration of the appeal to enforce the executive order and freely expose students and school staff to the increased risk of Delta variant infection, which is a continuing constitutional violation,” the motion states.
Gallagher doesn’t expect the fact that most of the appellate judges in Florida have been appointed by Republican governors will have a bearing on the appellate process.
“Judges take an oath to uphold the law and apply the facts of these cases,” he said, noting that personal opinions are not part of the process. “... We have full faith and confidence that the appellate justices at every level … are going to faithfully execute their duty to render these matters on the merits rather than any kind of political bias or ideas.”