On Friday, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court struck down the school mask mandate imposed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and Acting State Health Secretary Alison Beam.
In November, the Commonwealth Court ruled against the mask mandate in schools, stating that Beam did not have “the blanket authority to create new rules and regulations out of whole cloth”.
The Supreme Court’s decision declared that Beam did not have the power ti mandate masks for students across the state.
A court opinion has not yet been released but is expected soon, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The lawsuit was originally filed by Republican politicians, parents, and multiple school districts. The politicians included were Senate Leader Jake Corman III and Rep. Jesse Topper.
The statewide mask mandate was imposed by Wolf’s administration in September. On Wednesday, Senior Deputy State Attorney General Sean Kirkpatrick said the administration did have the power to mandate masks, claiming that the delta variant is “causing a lot more harm to children”.
Republican state House Speaker Bryan Cutler and Republican House Majority Leader Rep. Kerry Benninghoff released a joint statement saying “We join the voices of millions of Pennsylvanians who are pleased to see our Commonwealth’s highest court agree that no unelected government bureaucrat should ever have the sole and unilateral authority to issue open-ended ‘orders’ — whether they focus on public health response or something else”.