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JCAR Rules Against Emergency Mask Mandate

A ruling from the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules may have serious ramifications on the school mask mandate. On Tuesday afternoon, JCAR voted 9-0 against extending the IDPH ruling on masks in school.  The IDPH tried to reissue an emergency rule that would have required schools that weren’t involved in the earlier lawsuit to have to wear masks.

 

IDPH had tried to push through a mask mandate as a stop gap measure until the Court of Appeals could make a decision on a court ruling that came down last week effectively ending mask wearing in schools for those named in the lawsuit. JCAR denied that emergency mandate.

 

The ruling was seen as a win for Republicans who have been pushing for mask optional rules at schools. State Senator Sue Rezin issued a statement saying that JCAR made it clear that the Governor’s attempts to go above a court ruling made by a coequal branch of government wouldn’t go. “Instead of allowing our judicial system to work through its process, the Governor tried to double down on his unilateral approach to COVID-19 mitigations.  This move was both bad government and dangerous to the rule of law as it ignored the court’s ruling on due process.” Senator Rezin also accused the Governor of “furthering the chaos and confusion for schools throughout the state.”

 

The Governor sent out a response.

 

A ruling from the Court of Appeals on the lawsuit that was filed is expected to come down later this week.

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