Tennessee’s attorney general has issued an opinion that mandates requiring citizens to wear face coverings to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is constitutionally defensible.

The opinion addresses whether mask mandates infringe on constitutional right to liberty and freedom of speech, and whether local governments have authority to issue such mandates. In both cases Attorney General Herbert Slatery wrote that mandated mask wearing is constitutionally defensible as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.