TENNESSEE, USA — A federal judge ruled that neither Governor Bill Lee nor Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn could enforce bans on mask requirements in schools on Friday, in a preliminary injunction against a state law. The ruling also prevents state officials from enforcing a new quarantine law as it relates to schools.
As a result of the ruling, schools in Tennessee are legally able to require masks and can quarantine students for COVID-19.
Federal judge, Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr., signed the order issuing a preliminary injunction. In Knox County, another federal ruling has required the school system to keep a mask requirement in place, similar to the one in place during the 2020-2021 school year.
Within hours after a COVID-19 special session of the Tennessee General Assembly, friends and families of eight children filed a lawsuit challenging the acts passed by lawmakers.
They said some of the laws violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the eight children, ranging from 7 years old to 14 years old, and claimed that the new law put them at increased risk for severe illness due to COVID-19. It was also filed on behalf of all other Tennessee school children with disabilities that make them at-risk.
Four of the children involved in the lawsuit are from Knox County.
Their disabilities include Down Syndrome, Type-1 Diabetes, chronic lung disease, autoimmune conditions, Joubert Syndrome, Shone's Complex, asthma, severe ulcerative colitis and autism.
The court found that the state's arguments hinged on an assumption that the worst of the pandemic is over. However, in court records, they said that masking is one tool to prevent the pandemic from worsening and ensure students do not get sick.
They said that masking only works if everybody follows the requirement, and giving people the option to not wear a mask made the preventative measure moot.
The judge also acknowledged that the new law moved the power to implement local mask requirements exclusively to the governor. It says schools can only implement a requirement if there is a state of emergency in place, which Gov. Lee exclusively has the power to declare.
Once a state of emergency is declared, the judge said that it would be too late for masks to be effective. So, he said the mask requirement would be ineffective at protecting children.
After the new law went to into effect, Gov. Lee ended Tennessee's state of emergency orders.
Court records also cited a letter from Miguel Cardona, the federal Secretary of Education, warning that the legislature's actions prevented schools from keeping students safe.