An Arkansas judge on Friday temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a ban on school mask mandates.
Judge Tim Fox issued a preliminary injunction against the law after finding that, among other things, it discriminated between public and private schools.
In April, Governor Asa Hutchinson signed the rule into law, prohibiting schools and government agencies from enforcing mask mandates.
Two lawsuits were brought against the governor this week looking to invalidate the law. The first suit was filed by two parents on Monday, while the Little Rock School District and the Marion School District filed a second suit on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the Republican governor said he regretted the law and had asked the state legislature to overturn the measure in the law that banned schools from mandating face coverings.
“I signed it for those reasons that our cases were at a low point. Everything has changed now. And yes, in hindsight I wish that had not become law,” he said at a news conference.
Hutchinson called a special session of the legislature to consider two bills that would have amended the law to grant local school districts the authority to implement mask mandates. However, both failed to advance out of committee on Thursday.
The governor celebrated the judge’s ruling on Friday.
“While the Arkansas General Assembly did not amend Act 1002, my objective has been achieved by the court’s decision today of Judge Fox who ruled that Act 1002 is unconstitutional. This ruling provides flexibility for school districts to make decisions on how to best protect their students,” Hutchinson said in a statement.
He also criticized lawmakers who were against amending the mask mandate ban, saying a number of them had taken a “casual, if not cavalier, attitude” toward Arkansas’ COVID-19 crisis.
“What concerns me is many are simply listening to the loudest voices and not standing up with compassion, common sense and serious action,” he said.
However, the Republican sponsor of the mandate ban said he believes the state should focus on other ways to tackle outbreaks in schools, including leave for teachers who have to quarantine.
“What I don’t want is this false sense of security that masks seem to be providing because it’s an easy political tool,” Republican state senator Trent Garner said. “Let’s come up with the real solutions when this happens in our schools, and I think we’re woefully inadequate on that.”
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