Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sues Jackson County over mask mandate
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is suing Jackson County over an emergency public health order reinstating masks, calling the requirement “ridiculous” and an “intrusion.”
The lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court on Thursday, contends that the mandate is arbitrary, capricious and unlawful. It is only the attorney general’s latest legal challenge brought against a Missouri local government with a mask mandate as Schmitt has waged a broad attack against the face coverings.
The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the mask mandate is unlawful and an injunction halting its effect.
“Jackson County’s mask mandate is yet another attempt by government officials to obtain, aggregate, and maintain power,” Schmitt said in a statement. “Requiring residents to wear a mask, especially in the face of a widely available vaccine, is ridiculous.”
In response to the latest surge of COVID-19, Jackson County Executive Frank White reinstated the county’s mask requirement, which took effect on Aug. 9. Under the Jackson County directive, everyone age 5 and older is required to wear masks inside public places, with some exceptions such as a medical condition.
The Jackson County order applies to all parts of the county except Kansas City, which has its own order, and Independence. Independence has its own health department operating outside the county’s jurisdiction, and its City Council declined to issue a new mask mandate earlier this week.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are White, the Jackson County Health Department, Health Director Bridgette Shaffer and Caleb Clifford, White’s chief of staff. A spokeswoman for Jackson County did not immediately reply to The Star’s request for comment.
The lawsuit claims the mask mandate in Jackson County is “not supported by data or science.” It also alleges the defendants failed to consider that schoolchildren “are generally not at risk of serious illness” if they become infected with COVID-19. And it says businesses, private clubs and religious organizations could be harmed because of its potential impact on limiting public gatherings.
The lawsuit also contends the order is unconstitutionally vague, citing as an example its allowance for patrons of restaurants to remove masks while eating and drinking.
“It is unclear, for example, whether it requires masking between bites or sips, or whether it permits people to remain unmasked throughout the meal, or something in between,” the suit says.
Schmitt, a Republican campaigning for U.S. Senate, has taken his legal fights against masks to the airwaves and television screens of conservative media outlets as he has sued local governments in recent weeks. For residents of Kansas City, he promised he would take the matter to court even before the details of its latest mandate had been announced.
Earlier Thursday, the attorney general’s office notched a victory after a Missouri judge ruled in favor of the legal challenge brought against St. Louis County over its mask requirement. The mandate had already been blocked under a temporary restraining order, and the decision to issue a preliminary injunction means any effort to require people to wear masks is likely to prove futile.
Meanwhile, Kansas City continues to live with a new wave of infections, hospitalizations and deaths driven largely by the delta variant through areas with low vaccination rates.
As of Tuesday, the metropolitan area added 4,730 cases over a one-week period along with 54 deaths. And 62 patients were being treated for COVID-19 at The University of Kansas Health System, including 21 in the intensive care unit.
The Kansas City City Council voted to extend its current mandate until Sept. 23 on Thursday. The same process could come up again in September if the council decides the mandate needs to be extended, due to a new Missouri law that requires public health restrictions to be reviewed by the council every 30 days.
The Star’s Jonathan Shorman and Cortlynn Stark contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 4:57 PM.
