Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott‘s mask ban violates the Americans With Disabilities Act, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel barred Attorney General Ken Paxton from enforcing the governor’s ban on mask mandates, granting declaratory and injunctive relief to the parents and students who filed the suit on the grounds that the ban “violates Plaintiffs’ rights under the ADA and Section 504 and is preempted by the ADA, Section 504, and the ARP Act.”
“The spread of Covid-19 poses an even greater risk for children with special health needs,” Yeakel wrote. “Children with certain underlying conditions who contract Covid-19 are more likely to experience severe acute biological effects and to require admission to a hospital and the hospital’s intensive-care unit.”
TEXAS PARENT RIPPED FACE MASK OFF TEACHER, SUPERINTENDENT SAYS
Paxton tweeted he “strongly” disagreed with the judge’s opinion.
“My Agency is considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision,” he wrote.
The Disability Rights Texas organization filed the lawsuit on Aug. 17 against Abbott and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath on behalf of several families who have disabled children, alleging Abbott’s Executive Order GA-38, signed into effect on Jul. 29, put “students with disabilities at significant risk, is discriminatory, and violates the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act.”
Abbott’s executive order said any “governmental entity, including a county, city, school district, and public health authority,” as well as any “governmental official” or “any public or private entity that is receiving or will receive public funds” is prohibited from enforcing mask mandates. Failure to comply could result in a fine of $1,000.
One Texas school district found a loophole in Abbott’s mask ban by altering its dress code to include masks. Other school districts in Texas have also gone around the governor’s order to implement mask mandates.
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The Texas Supreme Court previously ruled in favor of upholding Abbott’s executive order against counties trying to defy the orders and implement mask mandates.
The state has nearly 100,000 active COVID-19 cases as of Friday, 7,754 of which are in people aged 19 or younger, according to Texas’s Department of Health and Human Services.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Yeakel and Abbott for comment but did not receive responses.
