Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing two families who send their elementary-school children to a Catholic school in the District of Columbia are suing Mayor Muriel Bowser for continuing to mandate masks at their children’s school while lifting the mandate for virtually all other activities across the district.
Bowser lifted the mask mandate on Feb. 14 for crowded bars and restaurants, concert halls and sports venues attended by thousands of people, strip clubs, shopping centers, gyms, and other businesses, but left the mandate in place for schoolchildren in the district.
The lawsuit calls the mayor’s mandate arbitrary and irrational. It states, “under [Bowser’s] policy, a child could go to the Wizards game at the crowded Capitol One Arena without wearing a mask, but she must cover her face for seven hours a day the moment she steps into her Catholic school building.”
Sheila Dugan, one of the parents bringing suit said, “I’ve seen firsthand how much stress and discomfort children have faced over the last two years. There’s no excuse for freeing bars and strip clubs from mask mandates while forcing my kindergartner to wear a mask to read, pray, and play dodgeball.”
ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman added, “It’s legally baseless to say that private schools can’t make their own decisions regarding masks while nearly all other private entities can. The mayor’s actions are unfairly punishing these schools.”