Jefferson City, MO – Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has filed another lawsuit against school districts that require students and teachers to wear face masks. His latest suit reads in part, the mandates are "arbitrary, capricious and unlawful."
Schmitt, who is running for U.S. Senate in 2022, calls the attempts to slow the spread of a virus, an example of "government overreach."
Schmitt said, "We filed this suit today because we fundamentally don’t believe in forced masking, rather that parents and families should have the power to make decisions on masks, based on science and facts."
Public health and infectious disease experts disagree with Schmitt's take on the effectiveness of wearing masks, as face masks have long been used to help mitigate the spread of a virus. Dr Angela Myers, Division Director of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children's Mercy Hospital says with masking, the probability of infection from COVID-19 goes down quite a bit.
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The reverse class action lawsuit was filed Monday on three counts:
• Declaration that the mask mandates are unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious
• Declaration that the mask mandate is subject to § 67.265 and expires without Board of Education authorizations
• Declaration that the mask mandate is unlawful as to schoolchildren