Earlier this month, we shared an op-ed on the likelihood that existing state statute prohibits requiring students to wear face coverings. On Wednesday, the Fojo Law Firm filed two lawsuits against two school districts based on that statute.
Each lawsuit alleges that requiring children to wear face masks or coverings contradicts one or more of the prohibitions contained in RSA 126-U:4. Wearing a mask requires a child to cover his or her face with certain material (whether a surgical mask or a cloth mask), mechanically restricts a child’s breathing by increasing the resistance of air movement during the child’s inhalation and exhalation process, and restricts the normal function of their bodies (breathing).
The suits, brought against districts in Hollis/Brookline and Bedford, seek to end any mask mandate and include a restraining order to end mandates while the lawsuits work their way through the courts.
Related: COVID Response is Creating an Exponential Increase in Mental Health Emergencies – In Children
I have serious doubts about their chances for success.
This is the same court system that rubber-stamped King Sununu’s right to abrogate the state and federal constitution during any state of emergency. I’m also not certain the court will see the application of RSA 126-U:4 as relevant. As Donna Judge noted in her Op-Ed in early May,
If (and when) charges are filed against school district officials for violating this law, defense counsel will no doubt argue that issuing mask mandates in an attempt to prevent the spread of a virus is a much different situation. However, the fact remains that students’ behavior has been controlled and modified by requiring them to wear a soft covering over their airways, which impaired their breathing and respiratory capacity.
We’ve been providing links to scientific data that includes the state’s own reporting on this, and we know COVID19 is no threat to children, nor are they a threat to adults as carriers. The real risk to their physical and mental harm does not outweigh the actual threat posed by SARS CoV2, so this is not a reasonable trade-off.
Kudos to Robert Fojo for pursuing another public airing of this madness. I’m not confident he can win that argument here, but as you may have noticed, we’re big fans of making a case for the rule of law and liberty even when the odds are not in our favor.
And if they win, it could end masking students in NH until someone changes the law.
