Isn’t it ironic? Law touted by DeSantis backfired on his defense in mask mandate case | Editorial

Oh, the irony of it all.

When Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a July executive order to block school mask mandates, he cited a law called the Parents’ Bill of Rights as the foundation for his position that parents, not schools, should decide whether children must wear facial coverings. His legal team also used the law passed this year in the defense against a lawsuit by parents challenging the executive order.

It appears the DeSantis team read — or chose to mention — only a portion of the law he signed in July.

Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper ruled Friday that the governor doesn’t have the authority to ban mask mandates. He acknowledged that the Parents’ Bill of Rights does say that government entities “may not infringe on the fundamental rights of a parent to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of” their child.

But, as Cooper said, “that’s where the reading [of the law] has been stopped by the defendants in this case.”

He pointed out that there’s another part of the Parents’ Bill of Rights that makes an exception when a requirement “is reasonable and necessary to achieve a compelling state interest and that such action is narrowly tailored and is not otherwise served by a less restrictive means.”

In other words, the Miami-Dade School Board and nine other districts across the state might have the authority to impose mask mandates if doing so is “reasonable” and necessary for “a compelling state interest.” We believe this situation meets that threshold, considering the highly-contagious delta variant has fueled the worse surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Florida since the beginning of the pandemic.

We don’t believe DeSantis or his aides forgot to read the entire Parents’ Bill of Rights or at least the one paragraph that makes up the section in question.

But in DeSantis’ relentless fight against local rule, it’s clear he’s willing to spin even a bill that he supported. While Floridians are dying, he complains about mask requirements instead of dedicating that energy toward getting more people vaccinated.

With leaders like DeSantis stoking anti-mask fervor — coupled with misinformation online — it’s no wonder we have had protesters burning masks outside a Broward School Board meeting and a man arrested this week after allegedly grabbing and twisting the arm of a student when he tried to send his maskless daughter to Fort Lauderdale High School.

DeSantis has deployed his own cabal of experts and studies to discredit the effectiveness of masks. But Cooper appears to have seen right through that strategy.

DeSantis relied on a study by Brown University that his executive order states “analyzed COVID-19 data for schools in Florida and found no correlation with mask mandates” and COVID cases.

Again, it appears the governor and his team didn’t fully read the data he has touted.

As the Tampa Bay Times reported, the Brown University study itself points out the limitations of its methods. The authors looked only at whether mandates existed at particular schools, and not the masking behavior of students and staffers, and they didn’t account for mitigation measures that might have been in place in the surrounding community, which would influence case counts.

The study authors in the end actually undermined DeSantis’ executive order, saying that “in-person school can be operated safely with appropriate mitigation, which typically includes universal masking.”

If DeSantis’ team didn’t take the time to read the entire study, Judge Cooper did and offered a scathing rebuke.

“I don’t say that the governor has the time to read a report that is that thick. But his advisors do,” Cooper said. “So the statement in the executive order is just incorrect.”

Ouch.

This is the second court defeat DeSantis has suffered in recent weeks. A federal judge has temporarily blocked a law banning cruise lines and other businesses from requiring proof of vaccination from customers.

DeSantis might also be losing in the public court of opinion. Six in 10 Floridians support requiring masks in schools, though there’s a sharp partisan divide on the issue, a Quinnipiac University poll released this week found.

Of course, that won’t deter DeSantis from his crusade against public health. Even before the Friday ruling, he had vowed to appeal if the decision went against him, Florida Politics reported.

DeSantis may have too much hubris to back down from this fight, but true leaders recognize when they have made a mistake. We know this is a vain hope, but — for the good of the state — we wish the governor would finally put children first and bow to common sense.

This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 3:43 PM.